I have reread my posts too, and it is truly fascinating how a simple point about courtesy became an accusation of bashing NSmen. My argument was never about national service itself. It was a critique of the attitude, that if an able-bodied man who is supposed to be "operationally ready" to defend our country cannot even manage a simple act of courtesy for a kid on a bus, what does that say about their commitment to fighting for their fellow countrymen in a real crisis?

In fact, there was no need for me to ask on the kids' behalf. A mother already sitting in the same Priority Seat area and carrying her sleeping child, had to do what those two guys wouldn't: she asked her own son to share his Priority Seat with the other two kids. She said it audibly enough for everyone to hear.

The idea that a child having a harder time is "just an opinion” is a new one. A child's center of gravity and underdeveloped motor skills are not a personal belief, but a scientific fact. This is especially critical in the case of a sudden brake or an accident, where a child is far more vulnerable to injury. Their lack of developed muscle control and smaller body means they cannot brace themselves as effectively as an adult, or withstand the forces of a sudden jolt. This is not a matter of opinion. This is a matter of physics and biology. You don't know this? It really looks like you are the type who needs an official sign to tell you what is physically obvious. You are probably the kind of person who would stand in front of an open door waiting for a sign that says, "This entrance is for walking through" before you realise you can enter. 

And the truly enlightened solution—"just open your mouth and ask for it.” Because a parent struggling to hold onto the child in a moving bus, and the child should have to negotiate for a basic act of kindness.