Chivalry Isn’t Dead: How To Be A Gentleman In The 21st Century

From the time we were little boys, we were poised to please.
We were told which way to go, what time to leave, and how we should arrive.
We were told to watch both ways before crossing the street, how to properly throw a football, and that we should never hit our little sister.
We listened to the old folks tell stories about the gentleman with the wide brim hats, and how “back then everyone said yes sir, or yes ma’am.”
The days began with a good morning to everyone who crossed paths and no one had to lock their doors.
We learned how to iron our own clothes, cook our meals, and make our own beds. Before bedtime, we brushed our teeth, said our prayers and we’re eventually able to sleep through the night without a nightlight, or a closed closet door.
We were taught to say please and thank you, memorizing the pledge of allegiance and the scout’s honor. The days of going fishing, homework and watching the game every Sunday with dad would soon become a fading moment, but a warm memory.
We are men now, able to stand on our own and as best we can stand with honor.
Life has taught some of us valuable lessons, and in passing them on one might hope to redeem a mistake or two. One does not have to close his eyes, or shut his ears to know the foolishness of today’s man.
Self-gratification has deprived us of our self-respect. It was believed to have been Malcolm Forbes that said, “he who dies with the most toys, wins.”
Mom taught us how to be loving and kind, ever reminding us how we ought to treat a girl and a woman with respect.
“Son, you should always open the door for her, walk her across the street opposite the traffic side, and pull out her chair when she is ready to sit down.”
The first 20 years of our life were about instruction, how we should behave as boys, thrive as adolescents, and walk as men. We’ve learned the essentials, ready to take on life and all that she might throw at us.
We’ve studied commerce, industry and big business, well versed in the lay and the law of the land. Yet, in all our knowledge we still lack wisdom.
We have failed to understand the value of good character. We lie as though it were poetry and cheat as if being faithful were wrong.
We understand nothing about the heart of a woman though she once held us close enough to supply the nutrients that sustain life. Why then should we not rehearse the things we first learned.
Why should we not strive to be good men? When faced with the choice of moving right or moving left, frontwards or backwards should we no less practice principal?
While having women on the side may heighten your ego, it diminishes perception into reality.
You soon become that man you wish to detour from your sister and protect from your mother. Is not our greatest award found in the integrity of a good night sleep?
There are fundamental truths to what extent a man should surpass.
Mom and dad taught us to not put our hands on a woman, nor speak forward toward her, yet the absence of such things in our lives does not hasten a blue ribbon of accomplishment.
What so called lesser things have we done? Have we scarred her self- esteem, abused her trust, siphoned her self -worth with manipulation?
Has the woman who once held you at midnight and rocked you back to sleep, not dreamed of anything more than this? Is not a father’s dying wish, command that his son be better than he? Your son, better than you?
Gentlemen, the examples we leave behind, help to decide the fate of what a daughter thinks of men and what our sons think of her and himself.
Kiri Rupiah wrote, “The measure of any society is how it treats its women.”
If we strive to be first good men, and then better men will soon understand that her desecration, becomes our detriment.