Shadow Puppet Storyteller

Respect for youth

This month, and probably last month too, the bus riding experience has been more disquieting. (Insert grumpy cat picture here)
I'm not saying it's un-doable; been doing it for a good while now. And the bright side is that next week will be Spring break, so the bus going down my hill will be less impacted during those days.

In today's case, I was more annoyed by a nagging adult rider than I was by the standing-room only lack of space. There are at least two schools in a one to two mile radius of the beginning of my route, and so at the same time many are going to work, or getting out to shop for necessities, a large number of passengers are older teens getting off at the high school.

One stop before the teens all disembark, at the same stop I first get on the bus, a middle-aged woman complained loudly that seniors were having to stand while a teen or two sat entrenched in front-area seats. I do not begrudge her voicing her displeasure -- once. Problem was, even after a few seniors were given seats, she kept ranting the rest of the way down the hill, maybe nearly 4 minutes total (even as they exited), and essentially while there was still a teen in her sight. She believed no one had taught them to respect elders. She wasn't being a very good example herself, but I know she didn't even realize how she sounded -- righteous, but cursing in a disgusted kind of way, "shit" at the end of most statements.

I see the kids going to High School. I respect them for that. I see them on a bus line that does not get enough coverage. They have to cram themselves on like sardines. I'm not sure adults are doing enough to earn these "kids" respect. I want the grouches who think they know better (and that enemy is sometimes me), to try to imagine being a teen in today's world. We regulate when they start drinking quite a bit later than the rest of the world. We no longer provide buses to school strictly for students, nor do we provide drivers education. When you do get a license it will be a long time before you can take people safely in a car or be able to afford it.

We rationalize that these steps have made the roads safer, but we are doing harm to rites of passage and the confidence one once was able to build from those. We may even be destroying my generation's ability to have the family we remember being part of. Unraveling the safety net of community. What examples of respect to we give the next generation?