Babushka

Barbara Beckwith, Age 87

The older I get, the more I feel like one of those stereotypical Russian ladies — babushkas, they call them — who reportedly mind everyone’s business in order to enforce good behavior, especially in public places.

I shoot a frown and wag a finger at drivers who swerve around pedestrians in crosswalks. I stop short when cellphone-preoccupied walkers are about to run into me, forcing them into startled side-steps before returning to oblivious messaging. At my neighborhood cafe, I thrust one of its several “no cellphones, please” signs at customers who fail to notice the posted requests. I am gratified when my state starts enforcing its “no texting while driving” rule, giving me official back-up for my car’s bumper sticker demand: “Hang Up and Drive!”

But alas, the next generations are turning bossy on me. Younger people now increasingly remind me of their norms. My son scolds me for idling my car as I listen to the end of the hour’s news. A youthful stranger berates me for wrong-way biking down a one-way street, my habitual route since the 1960s. A workshop colleague who’s in her 20s nixes paper handouts. A sports partner half my age tells me that my bottled water is a no-no. When I return with a refillable plastic bottle, I’m scolded because it’s not BPA-free.

In public restrooms, I now feel obliged, if youngsters are present, to use the noisy air dryer rather than tree-killing paper towels. When I fail to bring a recyclable bag to the supermarket, I feel like a lawbreaker, my city having outlawed “single use” plastic or paper bags. We must pay, from now on, for profligate bag usage.

I could carp, but I’m beginning to realize that there’s something to their bossiness.

The bad behaviors I consider scold-worthy are minor compared to the consequences of not paying attention to theirs. It’s their country, their future, their climate-changed earth, their global survival, that’s now at stake.

It’s the next generation’s right to be bossy, and my generation’s role is now to add their good behavior rules to my repertoire.