Do the elderly have a right to be rude?

As public transport commuter, I have seen elderly folks pushing and shoving they way past the queue to get a coveted seat. I have even seen our dear senior citizens push and shove their way through with such aggression that even our national rugby team will be put to shame.

For most cases my personal experience with these folks usually takes place at the bus interchange when they don't bother to queue up and just board the bus the moment it pulls up. And to top it off, they usually end up grabbing the seat that I want!

So why exactly do some senior citizens act the way they do? Is it because our national courtesy campaigns have not yielded the expected results? When I say this, I'm referring to the campaigns' objective of teaching the younger generation to respect the elders and understand that they (the elderly) have a priority when it comes to limited seating.

Maybe the younger generation are so "me-me" oriented that they have forgotten that the elderly may, more often than not, need the seat especially if they are travelling the entire bus or train route. Perhaps their survial instincts have kicked in for such situations to the point that they can muster enough energy to push and shove their way for a seat thanks to those 6am Taichi sessions.

Bearing in mind that many of the elderly folk have tasted and endured more hardship than most of us have experienced should we tolerate their behavior? Would it help if we gave in a little by letting them board the buses or trains first or if we gave up our seats to them? Maybe if we did, they would not have a reason to resort to such actions. But for now, I'll just have to live with not getting the seat that I want.