Heading home on the night of the Chinese New Year, I saw an old lady got on the train. She advanced into the center of the train, where seats of both sides were occupied by two families: on the left, there were a father with a boy aged 3ish sitting on his lap, a mother, an uncle, two aunties; on the right, there were a father, a mother, a 10ish boy and a 7ish girl. Both kids were soundly slept. (A man who apparently was not a family member occupied the leftmost seat on the right side.)
Perhaps no one saw the old lady. No one offered her a seat.
The tired old lady moved further into the train and leaned on the wall.
The uncle on the left side said he was about to get off. The father grabbed the opportunity and asked the boy in Cantonese, “咦，舅父要落車喎，要同舅父講乜野啊？(Oh, uncle John is going to get off the train, what should you say?)” The mother followed with English in a strange accent, “What do you say?” The little boy waved, “Bye Bye”.
Overhearing this, the old lady walked slowly towards where the uncle sat and intended to take his seat.
Then the uncle stood up.
The father immediately put his child (who was sitting on his lap) on the emptied seat. In a perfectly matched manner, the mother slide towards the child, picked him up and put him on her lap so as to offer her seat to another family member, an elegant young lady in her twenties. Slow and steady wins the race? Not this time. The old lady had no choice but to walk back to where she leaned.
The mother on the opposite side spotted the old lady, immediately she woke her girl. The little girl rubbed her eyes; the mother pointed at the old lady; the little girl stood up obediently without further parental instruction. The mother asked the old lady to take the seat and hinted her little one to sit on her lap.
Dear parents, actions speak louder than words.
(Translated from my post "何謂家教？", not a word-by-word translation though...)
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