Learning to "Age Gracefully"...
Finally, today, I sent my grandmother back to Nanjing, ending my pretty much self-imposed three-week house arrest. Watching my grandmother behave in public for one last time (in a long long while, at least) as we head our way by train, it still makes me think how older people behave in China. Maybe a lot of what I say here is peculiar to my grandmother, but basically, all the social vices we perceive that Chinese people have are incredibly prevalent among elders. For instance, cutting in line is normal (quite humiliating for me to watch when my grandmother does it because I can't follow her in that particular act). Also, for her, words like "Excuse me," "Thank you," and "Please" are never to be used in public toward strangers (even customer service people)...and, smiling toward others is just not something to be done logically. Ironically, when foreigners first think of Chinese elders, bearded wise smiling old men (like Confucius) are probably the