Getting older doesn’t mean having to give up control of your environment. If the world and the people who inhabit it are too much with you, tell it to the judge. John Clifford did just that—and prevailed.

According to a recent New York Times article by Anemona Hartocollis, the story goes that 60-year old John Clifford rode a Long Island commuter train into town one day and took major issue with the rampant disorder in his immediate environment. According to his testimony, one woman was applying makeup while listening to her iPod and occasionally talking to friend. Another woman was inviting guests to a barbecue and discussing personal problems. Several men were chatting on their cell phones at a volume that was intruding on his personal space. In fact, all of these conversations intruded on his personal space. Clifford saw all of these people treating the commute as a social event rather than a means of transportation. They were forming cliques and getting to know one another on a first name basis. All except John Clifford, of course, who was disturbed by their behavior.

At first, Clifford asked the passengers to keep their noise level to a minimum, but the chatter continued. Eventually, he lost his patience and shouted an obscenity at one of the passengers talking on his cell. He slapped the hand of another. Suddenly, he was arrested and subsequently he found himself in Manhattan Criminal Court pleading his case to a judge. He was charged with misdemeanor assault, petit larceny, harassment, and disorderly conduct.

In the eyes of his accusers, Clifford was a bully who hogged five seats to himself and threatened to make life hell for one of the female passengers. He had been arrested before under similar circumstances, but the charges were always dropped. And here he was in court again, having to justify his abusive behavior. In his favor, he told the judge, was the gratitude of a few passengers who thanked him for doing what they had not had the courage to do—stand up for civility in the face of chaos.

In her closing argument, the prosecuting attorney said, “He is not a white knight, he’s Darth Vader.” But in the end, the judge cleared Clifford of all charges, claiming that all but one of the witnesses against him had “an ax to grind.”

Recalling the accolades of some of his fellow passengers, John Clifford concluded, “I’m no hero. Rosa Parks is a hero. I’m just a knucklehead.” The intention of this article is not to impart the story of a knucklehead, but one of, perhaps, a latter day Don Quixote—one with attitude and sass.

Sass is sexy, particularly at 60. Nourish yours—and it will keep you young.