letters on chivalry in paper

[ThomasJ]

In the letters section of one of this mornings freebie papers comment was made to the fact that a woman on cruches with a plaster cast on her foot was standing on a RUSH hour DART and the only person to offer her a seat was an elderly lady.

I have been standing on a DART/commuter train a couple of times and an elderly man/woman/even couple would be standing beside me in crushloads. they may have said no but the fact that no came up and asked them was not a good thing. its as if those stickers that ask passengers to give up a seat for an elderly/disabled person is not worth the paper its on. if people are not going to bother why bother to stick up those stickers.

its the same with buses i still happens but not as much as it used to. iwas actually on a bus (standing) where an elderly woman was standing and the bus came to a halt and she went forward and hit her head off a sideboard. she got a seat then.

What do you think? are people beginning to think less and less of people that need seats more?

[undo]

I think it's very much a cultural thing. See, I am from Poland but grew up in Germany. Whenever I am in Poland, *everybody* around me on a tram or bus will offer their seat to an elderly person. Naturally, so do I. When I am back in Germany, however, it would feel really awkward to be the one guy offering his seat to an older person. It's simply not something people do. (I know that's bad alright, but the peer pressure if you want to call it that makes me do the same as everyone else.)

I guess it's similar in Ireland: It's just not in the culture. And it will take a lot of time to become habitual for young people.

[ACustomer]

Undo: giving seats to the elderly and ladies (and not just elderly ladies!) was once part of our culture: that's why these comments were made in the first place. Ireland has become brash and ill-mannered - see remarks recently by the German ambassador.

What may have helped to kill off giving up one's seat was the attitude of 1970s vintage feminists ("Don't patronise me"). I hope that Polish gallantry will conunter this nastiness.

[Derek Wheeler]

IEs promotion of this particular act of kindness is abysmal. A mere sticker is not enough. P11 drew up the bones of a campaign, but initial reaction from IE was cool. But we are rolling it out again.

Ideally it should be poster, radio and TV driven. Thats what changes a culture.

[James Shields]

Perhaps we should be leading by example. I will happily give my seat up when an elderly or obviously pregnant person gets on, but perhaps I should be making a point of not sitting when other people are standing.

I think it looks bad when CIE staff (from any of their companies) in uniform sit on a crowded train and leave others standing. They may be perfectly entitled to a seat, but choosing not to take it would send a powerful that they as individuals as was as a company put the customer first.

If P11 launch a "give up your seat" campaign, it should certainly start from committee members (and any other members who wish to join us) giving up our seats.

Please note that this is just my opinion, and I have not discussed this with any other committee member.

[Derek Wheeler]

Cracking idea James.