Singapore – Thanks to Redditor u/MissCreepyStories and her insightful observation, a new angle was given as to why the elderly refuse a seat on the MRT even after being offered one.
She bases her findings on two incidents, which she personally experienced, and was further confirmed throughout the thread.
On her first incident, she saw someone offering his seat located at the middle of the cabin to an elderly man but the latter was hesitant in accepting. After being persuaded, the elderly man eventually succumbed and sat down. It was only during his stop that the observer realised the cause for the man’s hesitation. He couldn’t stand up by himself without any pole to hold onto. The endeavour was too difficult and he would have fallen if it wasn’t for the other commuters who held and helped him get off the train.
The second incident involved another elderly man standing on a moving train with a handful of empty priority seats near him. A nearby auntie started urging the man to sit down on the seats but he refused because he was afraid of letting go of the pole he was holding onto. The short gap separating him and the priority seat was too big a feat if he was going to do it without support.
The two scenarios brought about a lot of insight for the Redditor and were prompted to share it with the world. She says, “we don’t understand the problems of the elderly because we have never been in their position and we look at things from our lenses instead.” Having a 70-year-old mother who lost her footing completely after a child bumped into her on the train made the writer realize that the elderly are really fragile.
To end her post, valuable advice was given: If you see an elderly person on the train, you might want to offer to hold their arm to get to a seat or something. Some of them are too embarrassed to admit that they need help with something as simple as walking across a moving train floor or getting up.
Read about the complete discussion here:
Elderly on MRT trains. Why some of them refuse to sit down. from singapore
Netizens also shared their insights and personal experiences relating to the subject. Her post gives new light about the elderly unlike the very minuscule percentage of “entitled elderly” that some people complain about.
Many, like Redditors merlionmanguy and OsmanSG were grateful for the shift in perspective.
User aortm and keyupiopi also shared their grandmas’ reasons for not taking a seat in a train.
Meanwhile, mookanana gives another angle to the topic through a lesson learned in school.
The same stands true for the elderly taking the bus and Redditor nobody_knows_Im_dog shares how bus captains patiently wait for them to be properly seated before moving.
