You have inspired me!

How about this haiku:

Dear Canadians,
Please stop kissing each other
Thanks, OC Transpo

Old folks are so scared
Sick people have lives as well…
Busybodies bitch.

When you are sick
You are weak

When you are sick
It’s hard to speak

When you are sick
Others want you gone

When you are sick… you are weak
Nothing but a target for every uptight-me-first-freak!

I’m willing to bet that more people have been affected by H1N1 paranoia than the actual flu itself.

Also, I agree with both of you WRT seniors. Try dealing with them and their finances… ack!

I don’t mind showing respect to a 70-something if they deserve it. By the same token, I don’t mind showing the same respect to a teen, if they deserve it.

Here’s the thing – lots 70+ think that because they:
a) lived through or fought in WWII that they automatically deserve my respect. While I do tend to give war vets a bit more cred than others, I have also known many who are not worthy of the respect of a gnat!

b) lived through the Depression. Big whoop. Been through some economic downturns myself. All of them caused by their generation, I might add.

c) believe their age confers the title of a “wise one”. Yeah, right.

And yeah, my Grandma Millie would have told the bitty to STFU as well!

One of the things that pisses me off in our culture is that “old people” seem to believe that due to the good fortune of their longevity, they should be treated like royalty. It’s made worse by the fact that we use terms like “senior citizen”, implying that everyone else is junior, and that we set the age limit for that based on life half a century ago when living to be 80 was unusual. Today, people spend about 1/4 to 1/3 or more of their life as “senior” citizens. Once they get that title, far too many seem to believe that they are suddenly owed respect and no longer have the responsibility of giving respect to anyone else.

That’s not to say that people shouldn’t have a certain amount of respect for the wisdom that often (but not always) comes with advanced years, but it is to say that the correct response would have been for the bus driver to respond “If it bothers you, lady, there’s the door.” Obviously asking someone to leave the bus was a viable option.

Seniors are the most advantaged class in the country. Yes, there are plenty of seniors who live in poverty, but collectively they are the richest people… despite this, we give them discounts and put up with their shit as if being aged somehow changes the whole ruleset of polite company.

I’d like to see the whole term “senior citizen” disappear from the vernacular. I’d like to see old people treated in accordance with the way they treat other people. Maybe that would encourage more of them to use their supposed wisdom for greater benefit rather than, say, being an asshole on the bus.

I’m pretty sure may 80-something grandmother, had she been on the bus, would have told that old biddy to sit down and STFU.