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Some people say chivalry is dead today. After all, it is a tradition of
honor born in the middle ages when knights road into battle with heavy
armor. Knights were to protect the
weak and respect the honor of women.
So it is easy to see how it should be long dead in our time. The indication is that if we all wore capes, we would
certainly no longer throw them down across a mud puddle for our fair ladies to
walk gracefully across. It
is a time when men and women, more attuned to being equals, race toward car
doors intent on opening them for themselves rather than others. It is a not time when a woman would
wait for someone to open the door for her. Instead she has either grown to expect to open the door on
her own or never gave it much thought.
Chivalry certainly appears to be dead and gone. In most cases I would agree. However today I witnessed something unique, but never fear
as there were no knights, swords or capes involved.
Sitting at a local McDonald’s drinking tea, I looked around
the room to see countless families, individuals, and groups at various
tables. Sadly I saw several groups
of people looking individually with intense concentration into their phone or
tablet screens. They were oblivious
to the world while hopefully reading something that I wrote. Then, one couple caught my attention.
They looked to be in their late teens, maybe early
twenties. He carried a backpack, a
possible sign of a student, and she carried a purse. He appeared to be Caucasian and she appeared to be of Indian
decent. What was attention
grabbing was the positioning of the two.
She was on one side of the booth and he was on the other side. They were both leaned in as if they
were having a private conversation.
Between the two of them was a phone. They laughed, pointed to the screen and managed to have
their heads only inches apart at the table. It was as if they could, while sharing the mutual
laugh, easily turn and kiss each other in a moment. I thought this
was extremely nice and unusual.
Rather than have their own phones out surfing the net, they shared one
phone which allowed them to stay close even across the table.
After a short time the two gathered their things and walked
out side-by-side into the parking lot.
I watched them as they made their way across the parking lot passing by
one car. I was sure they were
headed to the next car when they both turned and walked to the passenger
door. The young man unlocked the
door, opened it and the young lady got in while he closed the door behind her. He then returned to the driver’s side
and they drove away. The young man
did all this without the shield and horse of a knight, but instead with the key
and car of our time.
As they left, I wondered if it was young love for the
two. They did, after all to me,
seem very young. Maybe it was the honeymoon
period, but whatever it was, it was nice to see chivalry alive in a generation
so far removed from the middle ages.
It was good to see a
young man acting as a knight with honor.
Maybe someday as he opens the door for her at McDonald's, these two will
hold wrinkled hands as they walk in still reeling from a love that brings out
acts of chivalry. It will serve as
a gentle reminder of when they were young, and that chivalry does still live in
love regardless of the time period.
