On Chivalry

Another snippet, done for a prompt at another community.

"So being chivalrous means more than opening a door for a lady?" he questioned, the look on his face obviously showing his doubt. He thought himself a fine example of chivalry, always opening the door the for fairer sex, helping old ladies with their bags and such. Now this guy he had never seen before was trying to add all this other s**t. Well, f**k that.

"Yes, it means more than opening the door for the ladies," the man said, looking at the young man who professed to be oh so chivalrous as if he was a cockroach. This imbecile had no idea what the word chivalrous meant. It wasn't the first time he had run across this ignorance since coming here and he would be glad when his mission was done and he could return home. "Courtesy towards the female is but one aspect."

"So I should hold the door open for guys too? They'll think I am gay..."

Gay? Happy? The man shook his head, what was so wrong with being happy? Although he had been prepared for his journey, there was much his tutors had either forgotten to mention or, as was becoming apparent to him, they simply did not know. "If the man is older, then you should offer him respect by opening the door. If the man is burdened, you should offer him the courtesy of assistance."

The young man thought this over. The stranger did have a point. He could do that. "Yeah, but what about this Church and chastity s**t? I don't do Church and I'm not chaste," he bragged.

The man sighed. He had been warned by his tutors of this attitude towards the Church and the fact that there was no longer much value placed on chastity. There was for the women, but not for the men. Yet another double standard this society was filled with. He wanted to go home. "That is unfortunate, for you," the man said, his patience worn, his code of chivalry about to surrender defeat. He shrugged and turned around, leaving the young man standing there, calling him names that questioned his sanity. It didn't help that the longer he stayed here, the more he questioned that too.