Vice-Regal Saint: Being a Gentleman in an Ungentlemanly World
Recently, I was walking in a park near my home, enjoying the brisk air of a Canadian winter, and the exquisite beauty of a snow-covered landscape. It was evening and the setting sun stained the white snow with shades of crimson and gold. There wasn't a sound to be had, all was quiet and beautiful, truly serene. But then I did hear something, sounds like shouting and struggling. Naturally concerned, I followed the sounds to behind a small grove of trees, where I saw another young man attempting to force himself upon a young woman, who was against a fence. She naturally took objection to this, and was struggling to push him away, but with his greater strength and size he was easily winning the struggle. I consider myself to be a gentleman, and a gentleman could not stand by and allow this to happen. Moving quickly, I set a hand on the man's shoulder and pulled him away.
"Sir, I don't believe the lady wants your company this evening," I said. The young man shouted a curse word, then drew back and struck me across the jaw, whereupon I struck him back and sent him sprawling onto the cold snowy ground. He looked up at me with anger, pain, and perhaps more than a bit of drunkenness in his eyes, decided that it was not worth the effort, and scrambled off. I then turned to the young woman to see if she was alright.
"Are you okay, miss?" I asked. She did not answer me. Instead she drew a can of pepperspray from her purse and sprayed me with it, shouting "CREEP!" loudly. She then quickly and sharply raised her knee into my reproductive organs, and ran off, leaving me doubled over from the pain which was, i'm sure you know, quite excrutiating.
I sit at my desk today, pondering what that young lady, scared and possibly traumatized as she may have been, was thinking when she inflicted such pain on her rescuer. Perhaps in the confusion she mistook me for the other young man, we were roughly the same height and build, both light brown hair, blue eyes. Perhaps she was a 'liberated powerful modern woman' and a hardline feminist, for whom being rescued was just as bad as being sexually assaulted. Perhaps she was just crazy. But the fact remains that this was not an unusual occurance, I am often punished or scolded or reproached for trying to be a gentleman in this ungentlemanly world.
For example, at my ex workplace I arrived by bus, at the same time as a lady who also worked there. I usually hold the door for her, it's just good manners. This had gone on for about five weeks, and though she never thanked me, being a gentleman was reward enough for me. I was then approached by my boss and told to stop holding the door for her, because she was perceiving me as a sexist who was mocking her, as holding the door for her did not imply my good manners, but that she was too weak to open the door for herself.
Another time, I was out for a walk in the evening, when I saw a group of three young ladies dressed rather... provocatively, being harassed by five or six young men who seemed rather intoxicated. Naturally, I rushed to the young ladies aid and, with a few blows exchanged, saw the young men off and on their way home. But I obviously overstepped my boundaries when I commented that if the young ladies wouldn't dress like the harlots those young men usually associated with, then those young men would no longer bother them. They then launched a tirade about, if they had 'it' they were going to flaunt 'it' and that was their right, no matter what trouble it would get them into.
It's sometimes hard to be a gentleman in today's world. I am snickered at when people learn I listen to Bach, Handel and Tchaikovsky. In a recent writing course I took, I was openly discouraged from sharing a passage of Kipling for a required reading we were supposed to conduct, due to Kipling supposedly being 'racist, imperialist and chauvinistic'. I am mocked for wearing a properly-fitted suit rather than the "style" of the modern young man, which is either excessively baggy or disturbingly skin-tight based on your social group. My military aspirations, my desire to serve Her Majesty as an officer of the Royal Canadian Army (and it will always be the RCA to me), my personal dream of defending God, Queen and Country, that is made ridicule most of all by my peers.
But still I stay the course. We must all stay the course, or else all those distasteful elements of society that we so oppose will have won at last. We are outnumbered, outmanuevered, outgunned perhaps, but I know that I at least will hold the faith. I hope you all hold that faith as well. As long as I live, I shall remain a gentleman and well dressed.
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24 comments:
Sir,
It must be that there are so few real Gentlemen (and Ladies) today that the coarse, drunken and illiterate guttersnipes; that the modern "education" system and Society have produced; instinctively feel inferior in your Presence with your obvious Old World charm. It is no wonder that they react with such hostility.
As Edmund Burke once wrote:
But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded, and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever. Never, never more, shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination of the heart, which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom! The unbought grace of life, the cheap defense of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise is gone. It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honor, which felt a stain like a wound, which inspired courage whilst it mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice itself lost half its evil, by losing all its grossness.
"No good deed goes unpunished" - true as it ever was. But of course, no one in their right mind would ever consider offering assistance to their fellow human being, based on the response they expect to receive.
As an aside, the Canadian Army as with all Commonwealth realms, was never titled "RCA". It was and continues to consist of various corps and regiments, many of which have the honour of a "Royal" prefix, such as the Royal Regiment of Candaian Horse Artillery.
"RCA" is the abbreviation for the Royal Canadian Artillery.
Mac
Quo Fas et Gloria Ducunt
I have similar experiences.
If the situation allows I will open doors for people, only good manners. Most people, to be fair, have the common courtesy to say 'thank you'. But I have been glared at and subjected to feminist tirades as well.
I gave up my seat on a tram to an elderly woman who swore and spat at me. This has happened twice.
I have been mocked for having in my possession the complete works of J.S Bach.
Upon mentioning that, health permitting, I would like to join the Australian Army, I was confronted with "Why would an intelligent person want to do be a tool of the state? Leave it to stupid people".
The list goes on. One tries to be civil, at least to the 'ladies'.
Ironically enough the most ladylike ladies on campus are the Muslim girls.
What a marvellous, original and insightful speech, Gladstone - as always. I have had so many experiences, especially over these last twenty years, that they would be too numerous to account and document in full here. Mind you, saying that, it wouldn't normally stop me. Hee! Hee! Hee!
What I find amusing is that it is usually pensioners and the "elders and betters" who are the first to complain about "those manners of the youth" and "this most terrible young generation" - complete with rolling eyes and raised eyebrows. Yet, from my own experience, it seems to me, it is often the pensioners and the elders who are the rudest and thereby set the most terrible example. Me, me, me, me. Mind you their generation did vote for "that woman". That explains everything.
Indeed, many years ago, out of politeness and a sense of fairness to the much weaker but fairer sex, I decided to take "a leap of faith" and brought a certain woman into my Cabinet. Hmmm. Look what happened to me.
Like Lord Best I have also found that the "most ladylike ladies" are the Muslim ladies. Without wishing to sound patronising which, I admit, is a tragic human trait of mine, I do find these Muslim ladies kind, gentle and completely unassuming. In a way, sort of grateful and almost "taken aback" that you've actually bothered to speak to them and taken time to listen to their views.
Perhaps these pensioners, many of whom are actually responsible for changing our society into the secular and overly materialistic nuthouse that it has become, have some lessons to learn from the Muslims. Heaven forbid the thought! For I believe there are always wider lessons for us to learn from the devout and God fearing amongst us - whether they be a Muslim or whatever.
I know I be completely mocked for my own simple faith. As I once be mocked in my youth for having my head in the books, playing the piano and refusing to wear "the passing fashions and fancies of the day". Yet if a man is to develop a character of any value, he should surely lead by example rather than follow the "common" rabble looking and longing for their constant approval. As if that had any actual value, merit or worth in itself.
Mind you, saying all this, a lot of these pensioners would find it very difficult to listen and learn from Muslims. For many of them would be far too busy dreaming up some witty "racist" joke - in order to "bravely challenge the modern consensus on political correctness". Says all I need to know. In many ways, as unkind as it sounds, some of these old folk deserve the society that they have got. It merely reflects them.
Gladstone,
My sympathies. I have a fairly large collection of JS Bach and Handel oratorios - are there any Handel fans who aren't monarchists? How many of us are left?
However much we wish the world retained its ancient civilities and culture of appropriate deference, the rot is pretty deep now. It is the return of the primitive.
I don't believe people should get more than they deserve, so helping out ungrateful ruffians and sluts is probably a waste of time.
I recall a scene from the movie Patton. A German general is asking questions about the personality of the American commander. An assistant explains the story of Patton rescuing a woman from two men pushing her into the back of a truck. The men were her husband and brother. The German general shrugs and says that this is the 20th century. Yes, replies the assistant, but Patton is a 16th century man.
I think it is fair to say we're all Edwardians here, whatever our political and religious beliefs. The words of Voltaire keep returning to me, they are not
what one wishes to say but what perhaps needs to be said: cultivate your own garden.
It's isolationist, I know, but we are reaching a stage where anything else might be suicidal. Gladstone you could have been easily killed doing those noble tasks. There are too few of us left.
I'd suggest moving away to some island where these values still held sway. That island would be off the coast of France ideally, but England is dead, Canada is going and America, for all its virtues, is rather too democratic for my tastes.
I've heard good things about Bermuda?
Regards,
Dear Sir,
Thank you for continuing to uphold the banner of gentlemanly behavior through such adversity. We are all indebted to you.
Sir:
Please continue to be a gentleman. We live in a world so lacking in gentility that whenever a true exhibition of it is seen, it shocks, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively.
Still, I give honour to your actions and state firmly that I refuse to let the coarse and base society which surrounds me dictate my behaviour. Every human being bears the image of the Divine; and in that image is dignity, even if, and especially if in spite of, that particular human being lacks the ability to see their worth.
Sincerely,
CSM
Gladstone, et al- My, my. I do wonder about many of you here. There is still a role in this world for a Good Man; but beware this idea of 'Gentleman' you affect. Pretence to being a true man through choice in fashion or music is as ugly as the gutter trash who choose a fashion and music you dislike.
I like what you have said, Kipling, but I rather think the situation is not quite as dire as you think. A correction is coming.
I will also disagree with you who praise the Musselmen, or women. They are the fountain which spews the vile, murderous trash that would tear down what little we have left.
Well said "Anonymous" (before me) -- love the first paragraph especially. Maybe you should take a look at yourself Mr. Gladstone, if there appears to be a frequent misinterpretation of your "gentlemanly" intentions, instead of blaming society and coming across as sanctimonious. Just a thought from a psychologist.
Well said dear Lord Best. Next Mr and Mrs Anonymous will be suggesting that gangster rap music and walking the city streets like a mugger is a perfectly acceptable way to behave. Indeed, the psychologists amongst us will no doubt try to argue that it is "a social and cultural norm" and proves beyond doubt "that we are all equal now". Indeed, the psychologists will also try to argue that it is "the height of social refinement, taste and class to listen to rap music and to hang around outside Spar shops". He will then go on to add that all those aged under thirty who listen, and dare I say enjoy, Bach or Handel, should have their heads read instead. Trouble is, if all these psychologists and psycobabblers had their own heads read it would be found to be a closed book - and not a very good one at that. Hee! Hee! Hee!
Mr and Mrs Anonymous have clearly missed the point about Bach and Handel. We do not mind that other people do not listen to them, however beneficial that would be for their poor, blighted and deprived souls. We merely ask that they respect the fact that other people do like to listen and have rather different "tastes", dare I say "more refined tastes" - rather than launching an empty headed tirade of personal abuse based on prejudice rather than the facts. For example, saying it is all an affectation, rather than making the effort themselves and simply treating others with basic respect, dignity and, dare I say, courtesy. Indeed, the trouble with courtesy today is that it is no longer common - unlike the more "common" aspects of our increasingly degenerate, lost and vulgar society.
Indeed, I have not spent the past twenty years fighting a counter revolution and being treated like an idiot and a social pariah, just to change course now and for you - "the enemy within". As "that woman" once said to me.
Excellent post, Sir Edward. Just wait, the next thing will be them deflecting just criticism of them by accusing us of defending Islam or some such rot.
I was laughed at for wearing a cravat the other day, by someone wearing a black hoodie on a 40 degree centigrade day. With the hood up.
Get away.
Happens to me all the time.
Hee! Hee! Hee!
People who would have ua waste our time and resources fighting the wrong battles in the wrong places against the wrong enemies.
Indeed that is not I- that would instead be the Yanks and their Labour lapdogs. I would say to you that it is indeed the wrong battle, and the wrong place. The battle would better be in the UK and Europe. Shall likely be, in any case. And what do you care, down under? Too close to Indonesia to lift your head?
Sadly it seems that this 'blog' is frequented by pretentious children. Shouldn't you tykes be studying for your GCSEs?
This is a sad world we live in, but when I find myself despairing over the barbarism so often seen today, I visit this blog and am reminded that all is not lost. Thank you.
"The battle would better be in the UK and Europe"
The locations are right, the targets are still wrong. The problem is not Muslims, or even fundamentalist Muslims, but their relatively cohesive cultures abrading with our fragmented and disjointed one. It is our weakness, nor them, we need to be fighting.
Part of that would, I admit, be curbing non-Western migration.
Best, thank you for your even response. Your solution does cut out some of the risk, but I disagree that the target is wrong, and in your answer I rather think you admit the appropriateness of the target.
I appreciate the insight to our own situation. I do not think our own society (or societies, as I consider Canada, UK, Australia, NZ the question) is beyond correction. I do not see a need for a 'fix', just a course correction.
Their society is only cohesive across their nations due to their religion, and hatred of those not of their religion.
Heath- you still can't read for content, your poor boy.
You left out in your initial fable of the accosted damsel that you slapped the dastardly villain with your glove and then ran him through with your saber; you pretentious pranny.
I believe the truth is that you were actually the one accosting the lady, and this is why you got sprayed. I am sure in your delusions as an aristocrat you also believe you can rape the peasant women as you please with no recourse.
You are an ass sir.
Anonymous (12:17). No, no, I think Best and I have got the full measure of you. Someone who does talk of the need for correction but doesn't yet realise that he is part of the problem that, as you suggest yourself, needs "correcting". As for being able to read and putting forward a coherent argument, I do have pre-Labour GCSEs. Hee! Hee! Hee!
How many times can others misinterpret your modest, altruistic acts before you take a leap and peer inward? You sound like the parent who, upon noticing his son out-of-step with the marching band, remarks, "Look. My Johnny is the only one keeping the beat." Maybe, just maybe, it's not the ungentlemanly world, Darling. Maybe, just maybe, your ego makes YOU and a true GENTLEMAN mutually exclusive concepts.
Anonymous (12:26): Had it been within the law, then yes I would've ran the cad through. Such behavior is utterly unacceptable. But, alas, such an act would be outside the law, and I will only act within the law of my country.
And no, I was not accosting the lady. If I wish for the company of a lady, I ask if her if she would like to accompany me somewhere, say to a film or a dinner. I treat a lady with the respect she's due. That is the conduct of a gentleman. It is not based on any aristocratic pretensions, it is simply how one should act.
Perhaps you think I am an ass. But you, sir, are a cad.
Also, one correction, if it had been within the law and I had a sabre on me, then yes I would've ran him through.
That's kind of funny, Gladstone, not sure if it was meant as such, but it certainly provided a little levity!!! Maybe there is hope that a gentleman can also have a sense of humor.
I know a chap who can make a superb sabre, should ever the law change...
Deep down people know they should be treaty others in a polite and courteous manner, and that they are too lazy and self centred to do so. This in turn results in a sense of deep discomfiture of seeing others making the effort. In order to combat this gnawing feel of inadequacy they try and assign dubious motives to such behaviour, thus the vitriol towards true ladies and gentlemen.
Absolutely splendid post. It was indeed very uplifting. Never compromise your gentlemanly behaviour, and never become discouraged! By the way, I listen to Handel religiously and find him very fine indeed. Zadok the Priest!
God Save the Queen.
God Save the Queen.
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