FIRST, LET me say that I approve of the MBTA's campaign to prevent sexual harassment on their vehicles and property, but it does raise a question for me.
I am 84, and ride the subway often. The other day, I was on a long, tiring ride on a crowded Green Line train. I was clinging to a pole in front of a bench seating several young people whose concentration on their reading would have been the envy of every teacher or parent. Finally, the lone girl among them looked up and offered me her seat. A slave to my old-fashioned values, I couldn't bring myself to accept her offer while the several young men read on. Then it occurred to me: What if I crowded one or more of the chaps to the point where they could no longer ignore the octogenarian hovering above them. Would I be liable for a harassment charge under the T's new drive?
RICHARD DAVENPORT
Boston
