In recent days, social media has been “in turmoil” after a young mother posted a status “exposing” a girl who did not give up her seat on the bus for her child to sit on, but only let her sit on the bus. The original caption reads as follows: “This is a photo I took on the bus from Safari to the hotel in Phu Quoc. My son is the little boy wearing the blue shirt. When my whole family got on the bus, there were no more seats. I asked the girl in the white shirt to give up her seat for my child, but she refused. At first, the girl did not wear glasses and her face was very arrogant, but when I took the photo, she was wearing glasses.
When the female friend refused to give up her seat even though I told her that the driver had told her to give up her seat to the elderly, children, pregnant women, or adults holding babies. But the female friend refused to give up her seat. I told my son to sit next to me, but it really looked pitiful for him to sit there. That other person looked pretty, but he had such poor awareness.
The post included a photo of the boy sitting between the girl in white and another passenger. Just a few minutes after the mother’s status was shared, it quickly attracted netizens and sparked a debate between two streams of opinion. One side said that the girl was “unconscious”, uncivilized and had bad manners. That when getting on the bus, one must be considerate, know how to give way to the elderly, children, and pregnant women.
However, most people spoke up to defend the girl, saying that giving up her seat on the bus was not her duty or responsibility and that the law did not stipulate that when getting on the bus, one must give up her seat to another person. Moreover, in the photo, the girl was leaning against the side of the bus, giving up her seat to the boy.
Not long ago, a clip appeared on social media of an old man cursing a male student who refused to give up his seat to him. Although the boy later gave up his seat to the old man, the old man still did not spare his words to insult the male student to the point of bursting into tears.
So is giving up your seat on the bus "necessary" or "must"?
In my personal opinion, giving up your seat on the bus is a civilized and polite behavior that shows sharing between people. This is a matter of ethics. No one has the right to force you to give up your seat to someone else because you paid for the ticket, you got on the bus first, you have the right to sit. However, if you are young, young, and healthy, how can you be so shameless as to watch an old woman with unsteady legs swaying on the bus? Can you be indifferent to a pregnant woman with a big belly struggling on the bus? Can you ignore and sit still in front of a small child who has to stand with one leg bent and one leg stretched on a crowded bus?
But if you are a busy person, have a hard job, and are really tired, the time spent traveling on the bus is the “golden” moments for you to take a nap. Therefore, as soon as you get on the bus, you close your eyes, ignoring everything around you. In this case, whether you give up your seat to others or not is understandable. However, there are also many people who pretend to sleep, pretend to be tired to avoid giving up their seats to “special cases”, which is really shameful!
And to be fair, giving up your seat is a matter of ethics, demonstrating civility and politeness in the behavior of each person and depending on the subject. As the old man said above, just because a male student refused to give up his seat does not give him the right to harshly criticize; just like that mother, just because her child did not have a comfortable seat, she had the right to "expose" the young girl with uncivilized words.
In short, on the bus or anywhere, between people, what is necessary is sharing, sincerity, understanding, and giving in to each other. That is the origin of civilized behavior, not any other measure or standard!
Article: Tue Anh
Illustration: TL
