Offering seat a moral obligation

Comment on "Slaps stir up debate on conduct" (China Daily, Aug 27)

Director Chen Kaige's latest film Caught in the Web (Sousuo) provides a good lesson on what might happen to a person who is accused of or even beaten up for not yielding his/her seat to another passenger on a crowded bus by people who don't know what prompted him/her to behave that way.

I agree with what lawyer He Juanhong said in the article. It is matter of moral obligation to offer a seat, unless a person is occupying one reserved for a special group such as children, senior citizens, the physically disabled or pregnant women.

People using public transport pay fares and should not be forced to offer their seat if they don't want to.

I am a "fan" of public transport even if it is crowded. And although I have passed my 50th birthday, I would never ask a young person to offer me his/her seat.

Moreover, where is the "boundary" which decides when or to whom a person should or should not offer his/her seat?

Beate Kayser, via e-mail

(China Daily 09/03/2012 page9)