Riding down the highway at 70 kilometers per hour, we caught a glimpse of these elderly women nestled amongst the truck's cargo. The woman in the top picture kept wiping her eyes and trying to protect her face from flying dust, etc. The woman in the second picture seemed to be a continuous victim of falling bags of potato chips. She kept moving around, trying to get situated while bags of chips fell on her.
In a culture where the the elderly are respected and supposedly cherished, I couldn't decide whether to feel sorrow or be tickled at this sight. What made it worse was that seated in the cab of the first truck were five children (in addition to their parents.)
I was thinking about the equivalent in my own society. What are the things that we do that we presume are normal, and yet people from other cultures might view as hideously disrespectful? One example might be putting our parents (or grandparents) in nursing homes or retirement communities rather than insisting they move in with us. Most of my local neighbors [here] would be horrified at this idea, but sometimes we [Americans] actually view this idea as loving and respectful because we desire to preserve people's independence and privacy as much as possible.
Regardless of how my actions towards my grandparents and parents come across to people from other cultures, I hope I never see the day when putting them in the back of a pick-up truck is the only reasonable option.
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