what i found quite interesting about my chivalry post last week was that most guys defended the fact that they thought chivalry was still alive... although the basic concept of pulling out a chair or opening a door for a woman in my books certainly does not equal chivalry... although... sure it does help, so well done to the boys who still do this... i am no feminist and i love guys doing this...
but...
here is the things i think is dead, this is what i mourn the loss of... here are some snippets i've taken out of the code of chivalry...
- exhibit self discipline (not so easy...)
- show respect (this goes beyond saying "yes mam"...)
- protect the innocent (true?)
- respect woman (...yeah well what can I say?)
- exhibit courage in word and deed (this I totally respect)
- avenge the wronged (oh yes baby)
- defend the weak and innocent (again, this got lost people...)
- fight with honor (hell yes this is dead)
- never abandon a friend, ally or noble cause (sigh)
- always keep one's word (*splutter*)
- always maintain one's principles (get it?)
- never betray a confidence (this one i put in bold on purpose)
- avoid deception (just avoid?... just don't go there sugar)
- respect life (hmmmm)
- be polite and attentive (yes please)
- exhibit manners (well done, some still have this ~ agreed)
- never attack from behind (no comment)
- avoid cheating (like in don't cheat boys)
- avoid torture (torture of the soul that is)
now these qualities are as old as Robin Hood himself, and for most metro men these qualities does not mean much... and granted... this is a tall order... but man oh man those who have these qualities... well that's just quite remarkable that's all... so yes, by all means pull out my chair, open the door for me... like i said, i'm no feminist... but how about being a knight in shining armour...in the 21st century...
now that... would take some doing :)~
23 COMMENTS....bite me!:
oh you are SO right, sweets my friend... i will not go into details about how lucky i am- but i do agree with you on this post!
whew
that is a tall order indeed
but some of those are doable
and some of those I do!!!
Reading this post in the context of chivalry. Definition from Wikipedia:"Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood. It is usually associated with ideals of knightly virtues, honour and courtly love. Today, the terms chivalry and chivalrous are used to describe courteous behavior, especially that of men towards women."
Reading your post, i think that it goes beyond the term chivalry and is both applicable to males and females. Everything you mention is qualities we should exhibit as good human beings and no distinction to be made between males and females. So ladies, just as tall an order ...no????
angel...yes you are lucky, AND you deserve it :)
sage... i love it when you say "yes mam"... hehe :)
asylum... i was waiting for someone to mention this... LOL so true... but i think woman in general does have a few more of the qualities than men... but only some... so yes... i'm up for it :)
hmm...i had a got thinking session when i read your post. I agree with asylum...it should in most cases at least be applicable to both the male and the female world. I'd like to think that i do exhibit most of these if not all of these qualities...sure sure, everybody makes mistakes, but i mean in general:)
I couldn't help measuring certain people up to your little list...and i have to admit that the result made me smile broadly:)
You left out the most important one: always check for floaters before leaving the toilet.
ruby... yes, scary right?!
kyk... i'm sure that is covered under "never abandon a friend, ally or noble cause..." :)~
I hear you are looking for me?
Every office and home should print this code of chivalry. Maybe hang it up in the loo to ensure proper checking for floaters.
I do actually have several of those in my armory. You can decide which ones :-)
If I didn't my ancestors would come up from the grave and whoop me!
You can also be sure my kids will be the same way, they might ride the short bus and they might act the fool but they will have good manners doing it!
i dont think chivalry is quite as dead as you think, missy...
May I lodge a request to rewrite the constitution of our country??
This is something everyone should live by....and the sad part is that so few people do.
I have, at one time or another, exhibited each of these traits.
The one I would take exception to now is "fight with honor"
There is no honor is fighting. Period. There are no rules except win. You may will fight for honorable ideals (i.e. protect the innocent, what have you) but within the conflict there is no honor. This was a missnomer then and it is one now. You tell me of any instance of honorable fighting and I shall debunk.
*Kingcover throws jacket in muddy puddle for Sweets to walk over* Oh crappers that was my good leather jacket!!! Why could I not have brought a regular jacket with me?! Geesh now I'll have a large dry-cleaning bill to look forward to! :'-(
Come on. One little attack from behind every now and again is a good thing.
To say something is dead, some abstract concept, is to say it is dead inside of you. One person can never speak for everyone else. Chivalry, as you describe it here, like any other form of moral code is something for the individual to aspire to. By implying some mandate or expectation that this or any other morality should be followed by other people—that's just politics.
Consider also your interpretation of each of these items. My guess is that all of us here would interpret them slightly differently at the very least, and I am certain someone from the middle ages would have interpreted these and applied them quite differently in life. That aspect of chivalry that dealt with female relations for example usually only applied to women of high stature ("ladies"). A peasant woman or commoner, while perhaps not beaten, didn't have the same rules applied. This sort of class structure became popular back with Hammurabi's code and persists to this day.
People don't change. We are the same as we have always been. The only thing that changes is technology. We aren't smarter; we are simply used to newer stuff. Sure thing used to be simpler, but life was also shorter.
Chivalry isn't dead. At least not what is meant by that expression. It is the same as it has always been. It only applies to people that click.
glugs... LOL you sweet thing you... yes you still have it, good for you :)
tam.... whhhhhhhhhhahahahahahahahaha
king...erm... i'm good at keeping secrets :)~
sage... that's great, there is nothing that gives me more hope than kids with good manners, good for you hun :)
slyde... i never said it's DEAD... it's just not as important these days... i think most people's morality has changed, am i wrong?
ark... i find this so interesting... the men keep defending themselves ...
ozzy... that's true, ok I’ll give you that one... :)~
king... LOL see? am i not worth your leather jacket??? luckily i'm a lady so i'll side step the puddle to save your jacket... :)
evyl... just depends which type of "attack" we're talking about here... agreed? LOL
greg... people are too easily swayed... there are really not many people, male or female left that exhibits these characteristics... it's something that has to be taught to a child, you can't aspire to this, it's just too damn difficult, it's never wavering, black and white… and it especially applies to the people that click :)
LOL! Butttttt the jacket is already IN the puddle! Oh great so not only is the jacket ruined but you didn't use it after all! Arghhhhh.
*trips up Sweets*
:-D
*sigh* ok let's give in and have a mud fight, ok?!
buddapesty baby!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)~
Mud fight or food fight? Let's go with the food ... or we could just combine the two ;-)
BUDDAPESTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Most people seem to misunderstand what codes like this actually are. They are exactly codes to aspire to. This one was a Chivalric code, one that knights aspired to uphold. This was not a code for the commoner, for everyone.
The mistake people make is the assumption that because knights held to this code (a very disciplined order in many respects; though less so in others), then the world followed this. No this is a Romanization, a Disneyzation of reality.
As I said, times don't change. People are the same. The same numbers who don't follow codes like this today, are the same numbers that didn't follow the codes during the Middle Ages.
This is a bit like someone in the future looking back to our professional sports team and then longing about how people don't play sports like they used to. They used to all be excellent athletes. No only certain small parts of society held to a strict discipline of excellence.
People still uphold codes today. There are few of them. But no fewer than did this yesterday or many centuries ago. Maybe you can argue that people aren't as polite as they used to be, but then again back in the day people carried weapons in the open, so niceties were more a practical survival skill than something you did for moral reasons.
god bless chivalry. under threat by the metro-sexual advances of our politically correct era. globus still believes in most of these qualities - even if his life prevents him from applying all of them.
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