One of my elder brother's friend had come over. He would eventually spend the night with us in our shared bedroom. Engrossed in talking, playing multiplayer games we were occupied. Realising we would be hungry my mother offered some Indian sweets wrapped in their covers. We unwrapped and ate. My Brother and I are very particular about not littering in the house and thus we both held the wrappers in our hands so that we could dispose of when we left the room and then came the biggest shock that day.
My brother's friend casually threw the wrapper onto the floor. Noticing it I told him that it wasn't right to litter and wasn't right all the more to litter in somebody's house. Replying to me he pointed out that I wasn't the person who would be sweeping the house anyway so it shouldn't be a problem. Horrified, I insisted that he picked up the wrapper and disposed of it and after this, I got the most Indian reply a person could ever hear, " Learn to respect your elders." I do agree that even I make mistakes but when they are pointed out no matter the age of the person or who the person is I do try to heed provided the person doesn't act as if he/she knows everything about the topic. Asking a person to use a trash can instead of littering has nothing to do with us respecting him or not. In fact, we are trying to help him be a better person. That's the greatest advantage of education which you and I seek: to be civilised and knowledgeable and learn from anybody irrespective of their age, gender, social status and more importantly appreciate the good things in others. It is high time we stopped believing in such stereotypes.
My brother's friend casually threw the wrapper onto the floor. Noticing it I told him that it wasn't right to litter and wasn't right all the more to litter in somebody's house. Replying to me he pointed out that I wasn't the person who would be sweeping the house anyway so it shouldn't be a problem. Horrified, I insisted that he picked up the wrapper and disposed of it and after this, I got the most Indian reply a person could ever hear, " Learn to respect your elders." I do agree that even I make mistakes but when they are pointed out no matter the age of the person or who the person is I do try to heed provided the person doesn't act as if he/she knows everything about the topic. Asking a person to use a trash can instead of littering has nothing to do with us respecting him or not. In fact, we are trying to help him be a better person. That's the greatest advantage of education which you and I seek: to be civilised and knowledgeable and learn from anybody irrespective of their age, gender, social status and more importantly appreciate the good things in others. It is high time we stopped believing in such stereotypes.
