RANT ON ELDERLY ON THE BUS!

I was on the bus this morning. It was extremely cold outside and the warm heat inside the bus was welcome. The bus was packed and I was lucky to have my butt in a seat. An old man entered the bus and was holding onto the railing above me.

"Would you like to take a seat?" I asked.

His watery blue eyes looked me up and down. His lip curled and he turned away. "No".

"Um. Okay."

I regretted offering my seat. I could've kept it to myself thank you very much. I was the only person on the bus courteous enough to let an elderly, a respected elder, the chance to sit down in a crowded bus.

I hate it when old people think they're still young and have the stamina and physical abilities of the young. Like I don't mind if they want to kid themselves so that they'll feel better about their old age. What I do mind is when they act like I'd offended them when I offer my seat on the bus. What makes it even worse is that of all the rude refusals I've gotten, all had come from White old people. All were males as well which makes it very interesting.

I'm unsure if it is a racist thing. That it's because I'm Black. Or  even worse, because I"m Muslim. Visibly Muslim. I don't know whether to be generous and assume it's a coincidence and they were all just having a bad day or something. But it can't be a coincidence. If it's not about me being Black or Muslim it could be a gender issue. Maybe White elderly men find their masculinity threatened when a woman offers them a seat.

Whatever it is, I'm no longer offering any white old man my seat on the bus unless he looks like he's about to collapse or looks like one those sweet old men. One can only take so much rudeness.

Any thoughts? Has anyone else noticed that White old men get rude when you offer them your seat or is the some weird crap that's only happening to me?