Chivalry

Chivalry

The first thing that comes to my mind when I first think of chivalry, I think of knights and dragons and damsels in distress. It’s not something we consider in today’s society. You've heard it before, chivalry is dead, but I disagree. It doesn't leave any room for us to be better people again. Chivalry isn't dead; it's taking a power nap, and I think it's time for us to wake it up.

To me, chivalry isn't just about brave knights coming to rescue helpless princesses and serving the king and god. It's having the courage to always do what you know is right, regardless of what happens or what other people think. Our society has the idea that the “bad” “hard ass” image is cool. Countless times during the course of a day, people are faced with situations where they are forced to choose between doing the right thing and the wrong thing. More often than not, there is a middle choice, it's not quite wrong, but it isn't exactly right either. Chances are, this middle choice will be easier and more tempting. Chivalry is doing the right thing just because you know it's right.

Chivalry is holding the door open for old people and people with babies. It's loaning your favorite skirt to your best friend for that big party even though you know she's going to spill something on it. Chivalry is being the best person that you can be at all times. It's totally idealistic and as such unreachable. We will never be perfect, but we can always be better today than we were yesterday.

I was at this website the other day and I was reading about the virtues that were considered chivalrous by knights and kings and what have you back in the day. It said that they figured the five key virtues of chivalry were honor, loyalty, courage, generosity, and forgiveness, and I think that these are still things that every person should strive to be.

Honor is doing what you say you will and treating other people fairly and with kindness, no matter how they have treated you. It means that when you do something wrong, you come right out and say so, you accept responsibility for it even if you know someone is going to be really mad about it. People who are honorable admit when they've made a mistake and then do everything they can to fix it. They ask to be forgiven, but they don't expect it and they accept whatever happens.

Loyalty, to me, is the biggest thing. It's the quality I value most in other people and in myself. To me, being loyal to someone means that you will stick with