Posted on 04/13/2006 11:55:44 AM PDT by ReleaseTheHounds
Imagine a luxury liner sinking into artic waters with too few lifeboats for its passengers. Who would get those seats?
When the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, the answer was obvious: women and children had first priority. Why was this? Certainly, the male passengers could have over-powered most of the women and saved their own lives. What kept them from doing so?
Chivalry. The idea that part of being a man (and certainly part of being a gentleman) is to sacrifice willingly to protect those who are more vulnerable. Of course, all those aboard the Titanic were equally vulnerable to the near freezing water. The men who gave their seats in the lifeboats gave their lives. Out of all of the Titanic's passengers, 74 percent of women lived while 80 percent of the men died.
Christina Hoff Sommers began her review of Harvey Mansfield's new book Manliness by reminding readers of the memorial erected by women in 1931 to honor those men on the Titanic. The memorial's inscription reads: "To the brave men who perished in the wreck of the Titanic. . . . They gave their lives that women and children might be saved." As Sommers suggests, this overlooked memorial is a fitting symbol of the state of chivalry or even of manliness today:
"...almost no one remembers those men. Women no longer bring flowers to the statue on April 15 to honor their chivalry. The idea of male gallantry makes many women nervous, suggesting (as it does) that women require special protection. It implies the sexes are objectively different. It tells us that some things are best left to men. Gallantry is a virtue that dare not speak its name."
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
I have gone onto buses with a few children and holding a baby. One of the nicest things I ever saw was an older man stand for my children and nudge a younger man to give up his seat, as well. If the bus is full and a lady gets on the bus and goes near our seat, I will often have my oldest son offer his seat. A lot of times, it is not accepted, though.
It's incredibly cute to hear my three year old ask, "Are you are a sir or a ma'am?" since he is still trying ot figure it out.
Yep, I done good--i.e., I was lucky.
The scene was almost as satisfying as when Susie Sarandon falls off the wing of that airplane in "The Great Waldo Pepper". That one will wear out your rewind.
Chivalry didn't die, it was assassinated by ugly lesbians.
Yeah, well coastal California is a whole different country. Real civilization doesn't start until you are at least 100 km from the ocean. Dammit.
LOL! When my daughter was a little bit older than that we had to go to a barbecue at my bosses' house. She wanted to know which one was the girl, Jim or Henry? (They're gay).
For some reason not long after that, I got terminated...
I've got to go read this HArvey Mansfield book. If Naomi Wolf doesn't like it it must be good. LOL!
It's kinda funny to watch American Idol sometimes when you have alot of these young singers who grew up in the south who have been taught to refer to elders as "yes maam", "no maam", and the older New Yorkers or Hollywood types are like UGHH!!!! stop calling me maam. LOL!
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