Chivalry Forever

On any given day I see people texting or talking on their cell phones. They are so busy that they forget to focus on their surroundings. One day a man was so involved in his telephone conversation that he forgot to hold the door open for me. Did he really forget that I was behind him or had he missed out on learning about chivalry? What is chivalry? It is being courteous to women. For example, holding the door open for a woman or helping a woman to take bags out of the car. You might think that this is practice that has been long forgotten, but that is not true. Many gentlemen hold doors open for me. Most of the time I wait until someone opens the door for me before I precede through the door. Yes, it does work.

As a child, my father opened doors for me. He told me that a gentlemen is always polite. Can we say that today? Of course, a gentlemen has standards about how he treats women. Some men learned about chivalry from their fathers, grandfathers, or other men.

Let's look at this from another perspective. I have heard women complain that chivalry is gone. Well, as women we have to take a step back and welcome chivalry to come our way. I believe that if you want something you have to prepare for it. Yes, it is all in the planning. I know that we live in a busy society, but we have to put an effort into the way that want to be treated. In order to get something, you have to loose something. So, we can slow down and allow a man to hold the door open for us. You may not like to slow down, but it pays off. People laugh at me when I say this, but I am living it.      

Another point is attitude. Several weeks ago, a young lady told me that she began smiling more while on vacation last year. She went on to discuss the friendly people that she met. From what she could remember, this was the first time that so many people smiled at her. As a result of this experience, she changed her attitude. She was determined to not wear a frown anymore. Next, she noticed that more men were holding doors open for her. This lady made a sacrifice. She gave up her frown for a smile and look what happened?