Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Going Up An Escalator



I was watching a family as they went up an escalator in a shopping mall.

They didn't look like people from the city.

The children were talking to one another, pointing at the things they saw.

They looked very excited and happy.

The mother was following behind, walking with style.

There was no sign of the father, probably parking the car.

The children went up first.

Then the mother.

Then I saw an old woman walking unsteadily with difficulty, far behind.

She was most probably in her late 60s or early 70s.

The children waved at their grandmother from above, giggling and laughing.

The daughter didn't even turn her head.

The old woman waved back at her grandchildren.

Then she stopped at the escalator, hesitated to go up as it was a moving staircase.

She had difficulty to take the first step.

She looked at her family but no one seemed to turned back to help her.

Her daughter and her grandchildren had already reached the floor above.

She trembled and was scared.

She tried to take her first step.

Her face was pale.

And she was shaking her head.

The daughter pointed at her mother and grumbled, shouting at her.

A lot of people were watching. They had become the center of attraction.

Then her daughter came down angrily, using the down escalator.

She scolded her mother harshly.

Then she dragged her mother's hand up the escalator.

Her mother almost fell.

Some people were shaking their heads and talking softly to their family or friends.

Then everything was back to normal.

No one seemed to remember what had happened.

I was watching at the staircase not far from the up escalator.

The daughter could have walk up the staircase with her mother.

And I looked around.

Not many were using the staircase.

It was left dirty and filled with rubbish.

This was not my first time seeing the younger generation ill-treated their parents.

I shook my head. I just couldn't understand why.

4 comments:

READS FOR LIFE said...

I felt bad about this story. Younger generations are getting too disrespectful nowadays. Sometimes I think it's the way they're educated and trained but I guess their social friends attitudes played major role as well.

BTW to change the mood, you got an award to collect! It's here. Have a great weekend!

Unknown said...

So sad :( I was raised by my great-grandma so I learned to respect my elders. My grandma helped raise my son so since he was also exposed to his great-grandma AND his great-great-grandma he learned to respect his elders as well.

I see how children speak to their parents & am so grateful that my son has respect for me.

Escalators freak me out and I am not elderly :) so I can sympathize with the grandma in the story.

Ann said...

Very sad. I can only hope that someday I am not in a similar situation with my own children.

Eddie Garcia said...

Many of the younger generation don't seem to understand that they are going to get old one of these days. It will come back to haunt them if they are treated the same way by their children as they treated their parents or elderly loved ones. We reap what we sow and that will never change. Thanks for your observance in the store & sharing it with us!

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