WHERE'D CHIVALRY GO?

Hello!

How are you doing this fine day? Ready to get back to normal life now that the elections are finally over?

Welcome to today’s gist.

So I was reading a book recently and there’s something that struck me there. When I thought about it and thought back to recent conversations I’ve either had or listened on, I thought to share my thoughts.

So in the book, Stella had just begun to date Caleb. Shortly before this, she had moved back into her parents’ house. On their first date, when she saw that he had arrived to pick her up, she simply left the house to go meet him at his car. When she opened the door, she found him on his way to the house. She asked him why he was doing that and he said he wanted to ‘shake her father’s hand’: introduce himself to her father, state his intentions and let her father know he (Caleb) would take care of Stella and bring her back home safe and sound. Now Caleb was not Stella’s first boyfriend, in fact it was a recent heartbreak that drove her back to her parents’ place so she could lick her wounds in the comfort of her parents’ home, but he was the first person who had ever said he wanted to meet with her father on the first date and assure him that his daughter would be taken care of. The thing was that until Caleb did that, Stella didn’t even know this was something that should be done; she obviously didn’t expect any of that. In fact, her father was also shocked to see that happen.

And as the date continued, Stella, and me, began to pick on ‘little’ things that Caleb did for her that were no longer in vogue and it warmed both our hearts.

As I continued to read the book, I kept wondering “Where’d Chivalry go?” These things Caleb was doing weren’t extraordinary, they were actually basic common sense things to do if you ask me but because they’ve become so out-of-use these days, it was sort of surprising to experience, or in my case read, that someone found it natural to do these things always.

One of the saddest things our ‘wokeness’ and modernization has done for us is that it has caused us to forget things that we should actually hold dear. In our bid to ‘never be caught unfresh’, we have left values that we should be upholding and have begun to uphold things that we should never have even contemplated in the first place.

This thing goes both ways. How many people would clearly state their intentions at the beginning of a relationship, these days it’s all “let’s see how it goes” for us, how many men would hold the door open for a lady when they see her? How many ladies would even allow the door be opened for them? How many ladies remember that there’s a distinction between dressing good and exposing their bodies? How many guys will not avoid a lady that refuses to expose her body? How many people actually do not equate looking good with being half naked? How many people still remember that the place of sex is after marriage? Yesterday, I heard a guy clearly say how it was really absurd to expect people to date and marry without first having sex to ascertain that the two people were sexually compatible and how he would definitely not date a girl who would refuse to have sex with him. How many people do not consider it weird for two people to live together without getting married because marriage ‘takes the fun out of the relationship’? How many people remember that you should help a person who is physically challenged? How many people remember that you can honestly make money without ‘cutting corners’? How many of us remember that ‘greasing palms’ and ‘cutting through lines’ are wrong? How many of us remember that ‘cussing’ is actually a terrible habit and not a sign of being hip and fresh? And the one that really breaks my heart, how many people will greet a person and extend courtesy without needing help from the person such courtesy is extended to? We’ve left our values and picked up some really trashy behaviour in the process. We are all so in a hurry to be thought of as being ‘all that’ that we become nothing really meaningful.

I’ve heard that the times have changed and so should we but really should the change result in this appalling moral decay we are experiencing? I think not! The Bible tells us in Romans 12:2 that we should not be conformed into the standards of this world but we should be transformed by the renewal of our minds so that we will be able to know the good, perfect and acceptable will of God. God is really telling us that as the world moves slowly into rot and decay, we should daily come to Him to cleanse our minds of whatever contamination the world tries to put us in. We are not expected to blend in. NO! We are actually expected to stand out! People should look at us and see us representing Jesus. Colossians 2:6, according to the Amplified version, says we should walk in union with Christ and constantly reflect His Character in the things we do and say. This is telling us that regardless of where the world turns to, our behavior must constantly reflect Jesus: in the way we treat people, the way we behave, the things we say…. Never mind that ‘chivalry’ (I’m using it in a loose sense to mean proper behavior for males and females) is going out of stock, we should tenaciously hold onto it. More than chivalry, we should hold onto what God says is the way to go and walk in that path even if we have to walk the path completely alone.

Well, that’s all I have to gist with you about today, I pray we all remember to go back to the drawing board that God has made and be renewed into reflecting His character and not what the world says is in vogue.

Till we gist again.

 

Love,

Achenyo.

PS. My birthday’s in a few hours!!!