The apparent lack of chivalry in society today is appalling.

Just a moment ago, a lady with Weight Watchers came to the door here at work for the weekly meeting we hold here. She had two rolling bags, a huge tote bag, a flip-chart, an easel, and a purse, and she was trying to juggle them all as she walked through the two sets of glass double doors. I, being confined to the desk, and not permitted to leave it, could only watch her empathetically. But then Edgar happened by! Good ol' Edgar the janitor....he would be going her way to unlock the conference room anyway. How fortunate for her! But he only walked up and leaned on my desk....and watched her. I was shocked!
"Should I wait for her to come in before I unlock conference room," he asked nonchalantly, "or should I go ahead and do it now?"
I looked at him incredulously.
"You should go out there and help her get in the door!"
"Aw, she's got it...she does this every week."
"Edgar...."
So he rolled his eyes and went to go carry her bags.

Man. Once, when I said something about gentlemen opening car doors for ladies, and how next-to-nobody does it anymore, the eighteen-year-old guy next to me said, "Well I, for one, am not of that mindset. God gave you just as many hands as he gave me. Open your own door."
Both of these guys are not unkind or chauvenistic or self-centered as a rule (as far as I can tell), and it all seems sadly uncharacteristic of them. It only shows when an opportunity for gentility comes up. And it makes me wonder if chivalry truly is dead...

But then, something unusual happens. Amanda and I where leaving the library, and we were walking several yards behind a man on crutches who was also leaving. When he got to the door, he had a visible struggle trying to get the door open while juggling the crutches, almost falling over more than once. Amanda and I tried to trot a little faster to maybe get to the door quickly enough to give him a hand, but we were too far behind. And as we got closer, we saw him make it successfully through the door, and he was now stopped, standing still in the open doorway......holding the door open for us. This poor guy could hardly open the door for himself, and was now in such an uncomfortable state that he couldn't turn his head to look at us, but he was making an effort to be more-than-decent.....and it gave me hope. Chilvary is not dead. I don't even think it's dying. But it's an endangered species, to be sure.

Guys, you do not understand the level of respect and honor that accompanies so simple an act as getting the door for us, or offering us your jacket (like my darling friend, Alex did this week when nobody else would), or holding our chair for us at the dinner table, or offering us your hand when we get out of the car.
Believe me when I say our estimation of you only rises when you act out of gentility. The respect we recieve is multiplied back to you. It's just plain cool.

And that's all. I guess it was just my passing observation. :-)
So there you have it.

The End.