Who should I be? This is one of the most important and existential questions in humanity’s past, present, and future. We live in an age when people cannot get along and few people feel safe, connected, and appreciated in their life. While some have argued that chivalry, or living a life with specific values, is dead, it is in fact very much alive and would greatly benefit our nation and world if it was adopted by a larger number of people. So, how can we live our lives better?
Chivalry is a behavior system which encouraged people to be brave, polite, loyal, and giving to others and wants men to treat women and the less fortunate with care and respect. It developed during the governmental system of feudalism in the 1100’s and 1200’s and was a code of conduct that especially the knights, or the most physical members of society were expected to follow for the good of everyone.
Chivalry has many positive values, but tradition and belief highlights seven particular values that would greatly benefit America and the world if they were put back into practice today.
- Courage: Today, challenges are great, but courage is in short supply. It is so easy to hope that someone else will solve the problem or that people put their heads in the sand and ignore the problem, but that behavior is wrong and doesn’t solve anything. Our politicians, business leaders, and every day people need to have the courage to do the right thing whether people agree with them or are not even watching. It requires courage to stand up for those in need and you might be the only person who does so, but you will give them hope and provide an example for all those around you.
- Justice: A knight must always fight for justice. It is easy to say that it’s someone else’s problem or that it’s not right, but that is not what chivalry calls us to do. It is easy for us to wait and see what happens and not demonstrate courage, but as Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. believed, “justice delayed is justice denied.” It is vital to ensure that you pay everyone fairly, do not allow others to be abused, and to do everything in your power to make this a more fair and just world.
- Mercy: Mercy is treating others better than they deserve. It is always tempting to destroy a colleague in a debate or to be mean and nasty to your partner, but showing grace and mercy demonstrates an even greater strength, an internal strength, that shows that you have the ability to control your feelings, emotions, and strength so that others may benefit. While it is possible that some enemies may take advantage of your kindness, it’s more likely that others will respect the generosity and courage of your convictions and you may even win them over to your position.
- Generosity: Today, one of the world’s greatest problems is greed. We are told to hoard our time, possessions, money, even toilet paper during a pandemic. We are told that if we share we are weak. However, generosity is actually one of our greatest strengths. It is important that we give both our time and money to charity so that we can provide financial assistance, educational aid, arts and cultural practices, and religious and other sacred institutions. We should share our resources both in times of natural disaster and extend our wealthy society to care for those who immigrate or migrate in search of food, money, and peace.
- Faith: Faith is a controversial term depending on your views. While there have definitely been occasions where faith was used to damage others, everyone has faith in something. We have faith that we will wake up in the morning, to go about our day, and even something as simple as having faith that the chairs we sit in will hold us up. Ideally, we will all have faith in something outside of ourself. Whether it is a religion, belief system, or set of ideals like chivalry, faith should provide a system of support and guidance in life’s both triumphant and challenging times. Faith allows you to have courage, trust, and forbearance and to survive and thrive through everything that we face. Lastly, through virtuous living others can trust in your character and believe in your words.
- Nobility: As people we should strive to uphold the highest of values and to be someone that everyone respects and holds in high esteem. We should seek to be a model for those around us so that others will learn about the values of chivalry and to become better people leading to a better world. Our real value is based on how we treat others, not what we have achieved or who we are in society.
- Honor: We should care who we are as individual people, families, nations, and a human race. A sense of honor or a sense of doing the right thing no matter what even if it means that you lose out on an ill-gotten gain. A person should focus on their integrity and should embody all of the principles of chivalry so that they can live a full, fulfilling, and meaningful life which benefits both themselves and others. Just like a reputation, it takes a long time to build and a mistake can easily ruin it so cherish your virtue and do everything you can to maintain it.
Chivalry is a code that benefits both the individuals and the societies that follow it. The values and virtues of chivalry will lead to a caring, well-ordered and moral world which will benefit both the strong and the helpless and help them to be all that they can be. A life lived with chivalry is a life well-lived indeed.
Sources:
Definition of CHIVALRY
The meaning of CHIVALRY is mounted men-at-arms. How to use chivalry in a sentence. Did you know?www.merriam-webster.com
What was chivalry and what were its ‘laws’?
The Knight with the Lion – an interactive educational resource for children and others based on medieval french stories…www.abdn.ac.uk
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