A recent tragedy in which an old man died of a heart attack after a quarrel with a young man over a bus seat in Zhengzhou, Henan Province has stirred up heated discussion in the media.

According to local media reports, a 20-year-old refused to give up his seat to the other passenger, aged about 70, then the two quarrelled. The old man slapped the young man's face four times, though the young man did not fight back but left the bus before he reached his stop. The old man couldn't calm down and died later in the bus from a heart attack.

People have been debating about who was right and who was wrong. But few people have shown sympathy with the old man. Some even concluded that "more old people are becoming bad guys, and bad guys are getting old."

This is actually an isolated incident. Neither the old or the young involved in this tragedy could represent the whole age group.

The fact that some people laughed at the old man's death has shown the dark side of Chinese society.

We will point it out if some senior citizens do something bad. But respecting the old should always be a norm for the general public.

Many of today's old people have experienced more difficult times than today's young. It is nothing to be proud of for young people to laugh at the older generation who have devoted most of their life for the nation's progress, just because an old man did something wrong.

We need to show more understanding of some older people's behavior that may not look quite acceptable today.

Many older people have become marginalized in today's society. Many cannot afford or are reluctant to join the trend of a materialistic society. A lot of them do not know how to use the Internet, which has resulted in the absence of their voices in cyber space.

In a society that boasts a tradition of reverence for the old, there is no point for the younger generation to try debating with the elder people about absolute right from wrong. The younger people need first of all to keep a humble approach in dealing with the older people.

Many of the comments on the Internet over the bus incident, apparently left by younger people, are disturbingly irresponsible.

The incidental behavior of an old man in this dispute should not be exaggerated and lead to disrespect of the older generation as a whole.

In China, the traditional teachings say that a dead person needs no finger-pointing, and old people deserve respect.

This tradition is not drawn out of one case, but is a conclusion from many people's life experience. Under any circumstance, this tradition should be kept in mind.