If somebody embarrasses his friend in public, he's doing something so severe that he loses his share in the world to come. Here we'll mention how a person should treat other people. The Mishnah says, Rabbi Yishmael says, “Be quick to serve the people who are la-rosh, people who are at the head,” which means an important person who's at the head of the table. He's usually elderly, distinguished, has experience, has been through life, and has a lot of chokhmah, a lot of wisdom to share. When you're around that type of person, try to fulfill his requests, help him, serve him, and do what you can for that type of individual. You'll gain when you serve him.
But when you're dealing with somebody who's tashchoret, who's young—tashchoret comes from shachor, black. That means a person whose hair is black; it's not yet gray, a person who doesn't have much experience in the world. When that type of person is around you, be calm, be very calm around him. The young person—you don't have to serve him, you don't have to be jumping at every request he has, but you should behave with dignity and restraint. You don't have to be looking up to him automatically; he's inexperienced with life, and therefore you don't have to look to him automatically for guidance. It could be that you have a young person who knows a tremendous amount and you should be around him, but it's not automatic. As opposed to wisdom, automatically comes with age. So an elderly person automatically, innately, has some sort of wisdom to share.
Be happy towards everybody. You should be cheerful towards every individual you meet, whether they're young, they're old, they're rich, or they're poor. Be a pleasant individual to everybody. That is the idea that the Mishnah is trying to share with us.