Attention ladies of Washington, D.C.: It is with great sympathy that I inform you of the passing of a dear friend that many of you may not have known (especially if you live in the D.C. area and are in your 20's). Chivalry has died today, at the ripe old age of 1,024. He was born in the days when men opened doors, draped their coats over puddles and always picked up the tab. You see chivalry was known by our fathers, our grandfathers and of course our great grandfathers. Unfortunately he is not known by most men living here in our nation's capital.
It was a dark and stormy night in northern Virginia, and a group of folks (two guys and four girls) ventured out to a country concert on a Saturday night. Fearing the storm worsening, and tired of the rain, we left early and headed back to the cars to leave. Upon arriving at the cars, two average ladies approximately in their 20's approached us and asked for help because their car was dead after leaving their lights on all concert-long. She actually didn't ask for help, but if any of us had jumper cables that she could borrow. The two guys that I was with both looked at each other with a quizzical look, and Guy 1 immediately said, "We do have jumper cables, but I'm sorry, but we just packed up the car." Guy 2 shrugged dumbly.
Are you serious??? Did this really just happen? Did two men in an empty parking lot WITH the tools to help these damsels in distress really just blow off the opportunity to help!? I was dumbfounded. I just could not believe that two perfectly capable men would not move a cooler to help this girl. "Give me the cables," I said. Guy 1 looked shocked. "What," he said. "Are YOU going to do it?" "Ya. I am!" I shot back. So I proceeded over to my car, jumper cables in hand, and popped my hood. As I looked back, rain drizzling annoyingly in the empty parking lot, I glared at the two guys. "Are you serious? Are you just going to watch me?" I said. "O, I see! That's just like a woman," said Guy 1. "Can't do anything for themselves." WHOA!!!! This guy was a piece of work! Granted I had just met him that day, and he was only a friend-of-a-friend, but as of that moment, he was NO any friend of mine. Did he really revert to 1950's thinking on me? I know how to jump start a car. I also know how to change a tire. I ALSO know how to karate chop him in the throat... by the way.
With reluctancy, the DB helped these two girls jump start their car, pushing me out of the way. And gladly I stood by, happy to see that he had learned his lesson. I don't know that he woke up the next day regretting being such a jerk, but I do know one thing... He sure did get a jolt when he did it wrong the first time.
So as we say goodbye to our dear friend chivalry, we must remember the good times. And hope that maybe one day he'll live on... the sooner, the better.
