On a train, an elderly woman remains standing while young people listen to music, obsessed with their smartphones

There are those who maintain that in the past etiquette was too strict, which greatly limited the freedom of expression and the creativity of young people.

Perhaps, there is some truth in this statement, but it is equally true, that today we have quickly moved to a diametrically opposite situation --- namely, the almost complete absence of rules and common sense. 

Modern technologies do not help, as we can understand from this story that happened in Sydney, Australia, but has caused a sensation all over the world.

It all started with a photo taken aboard a light rail train in the city of Sydney. In the image, you see young people distracted, with their eyes glued to their smartphones and earphones plugged into their ears. What is more, however, we see an elderly lady standing, precariously clinging to a hand-holding pole. 

We understand very well what is wrong with this photo! How is it possible that nobody got up to give up their seat to this elderly lady? Where did those old rules of etiquette and good manners go that told a young man or woman to always offer their seat when a disabled person, an elderly person, or a pregnant woman came on board? 

The excuse is obvious: the young people, probably captivated by the music in their ears or by what they were viewing on their smartphones, were not paying attention and did not even notice the elderly lady. In the worst case scenario, instead, they continued their activities in spite of the rather obvious need of the elderly lady to have a seat. 

This photo was published on Facebook, where it clearly aroused opinions of all kinds. There were those who accused young people, in general, today of having completely forgotten good manners, replacing it with technological knowledge, those who instead emphasized the fact that from a photo, it is very difficult to understand the dynamics of what happened, and that perhaps the lady had given up her seat due to having to get off shortly. 

Although, it is not possible to understand what actually happened in this situation, besides what we see, however, we know, that such scenes happen frequently all over the world. Nevertheless, generalizing is wrong - in fact, among the comments to this photo, there were also young people who claimed to let elderly people take their seats on public transport vehicles --- as well as those who remain indifferent to good manners.

In any case, let's recover from the past that which is good and beneficial because respect and good manners have no expiration date!