Etiquettes, is the one thing America is really rich with. Small things can make big difference. But I really feel that there is one thing which America really lacks and that is respect. No , it is not that they do not show respect to others. To clear my point, here is the incident I came across. I was travelling in a bus. All Metro buses have initial seats for elderly and disabled people. Presumably, if somebody(normal person) has occupied those initial seats and some elderly or disabled persons get into bus, normal person will make available those seats for the elderly or disabled persons showing respect for them. This is so called etiquette and it is apt. I was supposed to get into the bus which just had arrived at the stop. An elderly lady,aged between 75-80,was carrying some stuff with her .Looking at her situation , it was clear that she was requiring some sort of help to walk or get into or get out of bus. She was getting down at the stop where I was getting into the bus. She asked my help to walk the stairs of the bus. I went ahead and gave her my hand . It was really a pity scene. When I looked back her and was imagining the things, I really felt pity on mankind. how can one even see oneself respectfully in one's mirror of conscience?? How the two sides of a coin are different? On one side, people show so much respect to the elderly person here in USA and on other hand, they do not feel anything when they leave parents alone at such age when they will need their children most. I know this may be culture , but what the moral value of this culture is.
Disclaimer- I do not want to hurt anyone or I am nobody to point anything about America, it is just when my heart speaks rather than my brain.
Disclaimer- I do not want to hurt anyone or I am nobody to point anything about America, it is just when my heart speaks rather than my brain.
6 comments:
hmmm.. mirror of conscience.. good thought
never been to Amrika so no idea howz the culture there.
it breaks my heart to see an almost 70 yr old gentleman driving his rickety car to come at around 9 PM to clean our floor in the University. Its a back breaking job and he does it for 3 hrs everyday, slowly and shakily.
i dont know if its culture to leave one's old parents to fend for themselves. i wonder if its about "parents" at all.....the people in this country in fact in West are so fiercely independent. This 70 yr old man i see today says he has been financially independent since the age of 13 and hence does not have it in him to depend on his kids no matter how old he grows. And it's not just abt finances..its abt space for their ownselves which most of them are not ready to compromise with that generally happens with dependence..they think differently Yogesh..very differently.........and with life-span increasing by manifolds in first world countries....i wonder how well prepared are they for taking care of their olds.....
From what I have seen, the parents themselves encourage their children to move out when they grow old enough to do so, like moi said they have a ficerely independent streak in them and they know they will get along quite well by themselves and depend on nice young lads like you when they need a little help :)I could never imagine being like that, but then they could never imagine being like me :)
@Moi - Thanks for visiting my blog.
@Moi & Suramya - agree with your points and that is the way US has progressed and it is their own culture and who are we to blame them ..but at least for me , I can not see myself or anybody who are close to me in that situation..it is just the environment in which we have grown up.
I can't understand that either.
But unlike in our country, the parents drive their kids out when they turn 18 because they want to enjoy their life and independence. This comes around when they become old, their children then abandon them, put them in old age homes...
And as Suramya and Swati said, that they are fiercely independence in every sense of the word, even in their old age, maybe they themselves don't want to be with their children...
Despite all that, I still neitehr understand it or like it, whatever the culture may be....
@Jas - Thanks for visiting my blog. Yes true..sometimes their culture really puzzles me.
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