Give your seat to elders, kids and females

"Give your seat to elders, kids and females."

I remember the above line was part of my behavior science text book in middle school. I had to remember it for my exams along with other points like:

1. Everybody should do one good turn a day: If you see a big stone or object in the middle of the road, remove it. Help elderly or blind to cross the road.

2. Touch feet of your parents/guardians as you get-up every morning.

Each student had a daily diary where parents/guardians had to log whether their ward did follow the points sincerely.

Come to present. I take trains to commute to work to Jersey City (close to New York). I have to take two trains, one is regular train (NJ Transit) with enough seating capacity but the other is a transit train (PATH) with less seating but more standing space.

Every day I see people rushing to grab a seat as soon as transit train arrives and opens its doors for passengers. Of course the younger/fitter folks (mostly men) run faster and grab seats while elders, kids and females lag little behind and feel lucky if they get a seat. I see people pushing each other to get a seat, sometimes even giving scornful look at others' impatience while ignoring their own.

My question is: Does the title line make sense in today’s world. Why do we ignore such pieces of courtesy in today’s mechanical life which is converting into rushing home-to-office or office-to-home life?

Reasons:

1. May be people are too preoccupied with their thoughts or are stressed that they un-knowingly/un-intentionally forget the old-gold teachings (common-sense).

2. Population is increasing and hence chaos and crowd. Survival of the fittest prevails.

3. People prefer luxury of a seat to read something or talk or take a nap rather than to stand and get further tired (in the evenings) and get exhausted (in the mornings).

4. Our life is moving towards individualistic world. Meaning only you have to take care of your life, state of affairs, ambitions and strive for it.

Let us slow down. Look around and think about others and give them some space (literally). Others will certainly reciprocate. Why not I start it first?
Your thoughts are welcome.