Is Chivalry Dead?

Whenever someone mentions chivalry, the oft associated 3 words are: chivalry is dead along the lines of 'cash is best', 'dress for success' or 'service above self'. These 3 words are so well quoted that they seem to have infused the hearts and minds of everyone - particularly women. I am no exception. Gulp!

To thoroughly discuss 'chivalry', we will need to span many pages of this blog and engage in a great deal of debate in the variety of men vs women, Mars vs Venus, etc. You get what I mean. But I shan't expound on something that dates back to the middle ages because I finally believe chivalry is still alive and kicking as I speak, um, type.

I was at a bookstore last weekend. A harried-looking lady was at the payment counter trying to balance her armload of assessment books (presumably for the little girl next to her), some pens, pencils, correction tapes, rulers and "Bob the Builder" CD-Roms. Why she hadn't heard of a shopping basket I wouldn't know but there she was, trying to juggle all those items while trying to fish for her wallet. Precariously, I might add. Very precariously.

Murphy's law won. She dropped half her load with a loud thud and spilled the other half across the counter. Hassled and embarrassed but she didn't seem to know what to do next! To organise the disaster on the counter or the floor first? Just when I thought I should be a good Samaritan, I spied an old spindly hand reaching down to pick up each item from the floor.

Chivalry on 2 legs, albeit knob-kneed and laced with varicose veins. This man had to be in his 70s, I thought. He handed the wayward items to her reverentially and nodded when she mumbled her appreciation.

I don't need further examples of chivalry. That man is my knight in shining armour.