A Funny Story About Chivalry

Last night in Illinois, I went out to dinner with friends…my friend Kevin’s mother, father, brother, and his brother’s two kids.  The brother (Kurt) gave me his hand to help me into the SUV to which I commented “chivalry is not dead!”.  His son, seven, asked me “what does that word mean”.  I told him that chivalry was when boys helped girls do things.  Shortly after that, Kurt said something rather off-color to which I responded “I was wrong, chivalry IS dead”.  We all laughed.  His son asked me “What does it mean that that word you said–meaning chivalry–is dead?”.  I explained in the best words I could to a seven year old.  He seemed to understand as he told me “sometimes I help my sister, so that word’s not dead”.  How CUTE is THAT??? 

Earlier I had given his little sister, age five, a little purple penguin Peek-a-Pooh, like this one:

It’s about an inch tall and hangs from a thin yellow cord.  The two of them were struggling for control of said Peek-a-Pooh in the back seat.  It was getting loud back there!  Just as their dad had decided they were getting too rowdy and made them knock it off, brother managed to get the toy and it would appear from the timing that he had won the battle.  I heard sister’s quiet little voice from the back seat state very matter-of-factly…

“It’s dead”.

Apparently she ALSO grasped the meaning of chivalry and the state of chivalry in the back seat last night!

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