I used to do that when I rode the T in this state, and you should have seen the looks I would get when I offered my seat to a person of any persuasion.
Like I was an axe murderer. I never understood it. Why not just say “No, thank you.”
But I persisted. Because I’ll be damned if I am going to sit in that seat while someone who SHOULD be seated remains standing. I think it is shameful. But hey, you and I obviously come from a different era.
I used to routinely give up my seat on San Francisco trolley cars or the BART train to women and the elderly. At some point women acted like I was being chauvinistic or making a pass, especially younger women. Elderly began acting like I was putting them down. So F it, I quit offering. Too much pain for the low success rate.
Years later I was sitting on BART and a woman nearby had to stand as no seats were available, but her body language was of hoping I would offer her a seat. People nearby started to eye me and one even whispered if I would give her my seat.
By then I was jaded and just ignored them all/. Lady, women’s Lib and all that. If you can work like a man and dress like a man and act like a man, then you can stand like a man. You wanted equality. You got equality.
It is sad. A declining, pre-woke but progressive society beat much of the good and polite out of me. This is how lofty societies crash and burn. Punish me often enough for good manners and deeds, and I am less likely to commit them.
You can only kick a dog so long...
>>different era
You brought me such reminders of my grandfather, a Texan and a gentleman, born in the late 1800s. He was most definitely racist, in today’s definitions, but he instantly leaped to his feet on a bus and gave his seat to any woman, black or white, or any person with a disability. He never saw the conflict between the views he was taught as he grew up, and the actions he took as an incredibly good person. Many thanks for bringing him to mind.
Am enjoying this discussion.