Many seniors in China do not know how to be respectable, and behave willfully, believing that they should be respected however they act, according to a commentator who believes this behavior reflects senior citizens' failure to adapt to an aging society.
In the northeastern city of Shenyang, a college girl recently stood as she rode a bus, carrying a shoebox in her hands. When the shoebox accidentally touched a seated senior, she immediately apologized, but the senior hurled all kinds of abuse, the Shanghai-based news portal The Paper recently reported.
Such events repeatedly make the headlines at present. Many seniors believe that they automatically command respect in any situation because of their old age, and act willfully, especially when there are no real boundaries for their behavior, wrote commentator Hu Yinbing for The Paper.
The situation is only going to get worse as the country’s population continues to age, warned the commentator. According to official data, China’s elderly population (people aged over 60) was 210 million in 2014, 15.5 percent of the total. And it is increasing by 8 million per year, and will peak at 400 million in around 2050. Over the next few decades, the elderly will be at an absolute advantage in terms of their numbers in society.
That so many seniors behave poorly reflects that the elderly are finding it hard to adapt to China’s aging society.
Learning how to be a kind, respectable senior is of critical importance for society. Regardless of their age, every adult should cultivate boundaries, be rules-minded and embrace civility. They should examine themselves to find and overcome the characteristics of the badly behaved seniors, wrote Hu.
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