Everyone loves to say that today’s youth are rude, lazy, disrespectful to elders, and only think about themselves.
But recently, I realized: sometimes, you need to respect yourself—not other people’s complaints, especially when they start taking advantage of your kindness.
I was heading home after a grueling exam session. I had passed all my exams, barely slept, and was dreaming of just one thing — getting some proper rest during the journey.
I specifically bought a ticket for the lower bunk so I could lie down comfortably and not suffer like I would on the upper one. I got on the train, settled in, and was already drifting off when a woman around forty came into the compartment with a boy who looked no older than seven.
The woman looked tired but determined. After she unpacked their things, it turned out they only had tickets for the upper bunk. She sat down across from me and immediately launched into a story about how miserable she was — her back hurt, her son was restless, and it would be impossible to manage him up top. She asked me to give up my place.
I felt sorry for her. I mean, she was a mother with a child, and a bad back at that. So I decided to help: I climbed up to the top bunk and tried to get some sleep. But that didn’t happen.
The boy, sprawled out on the lower bunk, kept fidgeting, kicking the mattress and the metal frame, making the whole structure shake and vibrate. On top of that, he kept humming some silly tune from a video game and wouldn’t stop talking. At first, I endured it. Then, gathering my strength, I politely asked the woman to calm her son down.
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” she replied, clearly irritated. “He’s just a child!”
But as if on purpose, the boy only got more hyper — running back and forth through the carriage, playing cartoons loudly on his phone, laughing, jumping. At that point, sleep was completely out of the question.
It was then that I realized I wasn’t going to put up with it anymore — and I did something I don’t regret.
Don’t you dare say young people don’t respect their elders 😢😔
I climbed down from the upper bunk and went to the conductor. I calmly and quietly explained that according to the ticket, my place was the lower bunk, and I had given it up voluntarily, but now it was impossible to rest because the woman refused to control her child.
The conductor entered the compartment, checked the tickets, looked at the woman, and said firmly:
— Madam, your ticket is for the upper bunk. Please take your seats according to the tickets you purchased.
The woman tried to argue, but the conductor was resolute. In the end, she sighed and climbed up, taking the boy with her, and I finally lay back down on my lower bunk.
For the first time in several days, I fell asleep peacefully, without guilt or pity.
Since then, I have firmly decided: I will never again sacrifice my own comfort for those who don’t know how to respect other people’s efforts and peace of mind.
