Train your kids to respect their elders, with any luck you will be in that position one day.

I have a lot of confusion about being older. I, myself, have a groaning, sinking feeling when I get behind a large group of grey haired tourists coming on a bus from the cruise ship. Oh God, this is going to be slow. Why do thy travel when they can hardly walk? Then, if I get talking to one of the old dears, I often find that they have had extraordinary lives and are still really interesting. But because they are clumped together, it is hard to get to who they are.

One thing that I have experienced is that when I travel, I am offered help everywhere I turn. Young guys, even gang bangers help me hoist my bags. People take my arm and help me cross streets, (Think Bangkok during rush hour, I need help or maybe courage.) If I am lost, a small crowd sometimes gathers to get me going in the right direction. If I am hot and sweaty, I am offered a glass of water.I am asked again and again how my life is. I always get a seat. Always.

In the USA, my experience is often different. Not always.Texas guys pull their weight, often with remarks like,"Please Mam, let me assist you. My mother would shoot me if I wasn't kind to a woman in distress." I can accept that. In a rough neighborhood in Richmond, CA the African American kids opened doors for me, carried my shopping bags. Turns out that a lot of them had been raised by grandmothers who deserved and demanded respect. I'll take that.

But, on a Bolt bus filled with college kids in Seattle, I had to ask for help getting a bag in the compartment and I got laughed at by the college kids and then helped by a French woman. I really have little pride, but I was sorry for those kids. I am sorry for the isolation that is their lot in life. To be fair, I don't think it is an unwillingness to step up. I think it is an obliviousness to others who aren't in their circle.

If it is a form of egocentric behavior, it could be retrained. There was a day when everyone threw trash out the windows of their cars in the United States. Most have been trained not to do so anymore. There is always hope.

I think more and more young people from our country need to travel. Getting out of your comfort zone is a brilliant way to learn about yourself. If we are ignorant about ourselves, we can't not be ignorant about our society and the world. And as the good Buddhists tell us, ignorance is one of the great causes of suffering. Amen.