CHINA: Public Morality Needs Cultivation Not Imposition

Giving up bus seats to aged BEIJING (ChinaView), January 4, 2008: We should not use untoward means to force people to give up their seats on buses to the elderly, says an article in Oriental Morning Post. The following is an excerpt: On January 1, two college students took photos of a woman for half an hour in order to force her to give up her bus seat to an elderly woman in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province. The woman reported the case to the police accusing the students of harassment. A young person should give up his or her seat voluntarily to an elderly person. But resorting to untoward behavior to force a people to give up their seats is not good. First, it should be out of one's own will. Second, we should find better ways to convince others to give up their seats to the elderly. Third, displaying photos on the Internet is also not wise. Taking photos of the woman has already infringed upon her privacy, and disclosure on the Internet is tantamount to blackmail. We can see that the two college students had good intentions, but they adopted an uncivilized way to achieve their goal. It is a very important issue as to how we deal with uncivilized behavior. Although it is irksome, we should refrain from losing our temper. What we need most is calmness and wisdom. For example, if people do not want to give up their seats, you could reason with them, or ask for the conductor's help. If they still refused you could ask other passengers to intercede, or physically help support an elderly person through the ride. In other words, public morality needs cultivation not imposition. Source: China Daily