Have you ever met him? Whom? I mean… have you ever met a gentleman? When talking about such a guy, one either thinks of history and picturizes a man wearing noble suit or just somebody who treats women with extra respect.
The thing is… "Are modern women dying to be surrounded by such "kind" of men?"
Without doubt times has changed. Women have changed. They are more and more independent and on the contrarery men are less and less gallant. This is the fact. Another point is that this all is dependent on the society we are living in, on our morals and mentality, which differs throughout the nations. When it comes to me, I was raised in the central Europe (don't dare to say Eastern Europe :D) and I can say our men are not any super duper gentlemen. However, yeah there is one big however… you know, I don't mind it at all because I am not used to such manners or such huge attention, especially not from the strangers. On one hand to hold the door for women is something even our rednecks can do and I am ok with it but ehm nobody will fight here to help you with luggage, no men will offer his seat to a woman in the public transportation (maybe just in case she is too old), almost no men would help you to stand up in case you fell down. Now I must laugh because I believe if I fell down in winter on slippery pavement in front of some guy, he would be able to laugh at me instead :-D but I would laugh too. Well, this is our cool specific humour :-)
I would say each gentlemen needs a lady but are there enough ladies around? This is the main dilema as the gentlemen almost have gone extinct, I am not sure if there are so many women with behaviour of a true lady. When I look at myself in the mirror I just see a crazy woman instead of the lady who is posh at any cost, who doesn't swear at all, who cares too much about her look (who the hell has time and money for it) and who is sooo charming.. hahahaa so let me be myself, let me enjoy opening door for myself, let me enjoy carrying heavy bags and standing on the tram because where are no gentlemen... there are no ladies :D
What about your experiences, guys? Are there gentlemen and ladies around you?
Comments
Surely it depends mostly in the person but for sure where we live is important too, I've checked it in first person last year in an eastern country. I'm not saying it's better or worse, just a different view and for a warm, tuned marrymaker southwestern is sort of shocking :D
I rarely use public transportation (my car goes with me everywhere) but it won't be the first time I give my seat to any person, o.k. mostly elderly people, once I did the same with a young lady and I had the feeling that she though I wanted to flirt with her.
Well, perhaps this is more about politeness than being a gentleman but I don't have any complex opening a door to a lady when entering a restaurant, pub... actually I normally do. ...And I don't have any comlex as well to let her pay the coffe or drink ;)
We have a saying here; 'lo cortés no quita lo valiente' something like 'Courtesy and Valor are not mutually exclussive'
I think we can't find nowadys 'ladies' and 'gentlemen' in that context you write about because these are concepts that come from a different time and society (where the women were seen as the 'weak gender' and men were the only ones who had to provide for the family) The modern 'ladies' and 'gentlemen' are just people who know the value of being polite, to have good manners and to be considerate to others. In this case I can answer saying 'yes'; I know people like that (I've to say I know more cases of women than guys)
In my case, as I'm like 'bipolar' sometimes, I can be as nice, sweet and polite as rude, crabby and impolite... it depends on the situation and how much someone pissed me off :P
But in general, I like/appreciate 'old stuff'...
Cool topic and nice to see you blogging again :)
I wish I could agree with you Luci but then we both would be wrong :D
Considering your definition of a gentleman, It is not hard for me to label someone a gentleman because a fair degree of respect for women is still in abundance in the society I'm living. I think not just respect for women defines a gentleman, it's his nobility, sincerity, respect for elders, realism, attitude, civility, wisdom and outlook, to say the least, is what matters. Yeah, hard to find but you need an eye to look for such gentlemen.
Comming to your question, I come across many such gentlemen daily. At least for one I'm sure, one that stands on the other side of the mirror ;-)
Talking of ladies, men tend to have a very low threshold for defining a lady. Unfortunately I'm not one of those men and I ain't telling you my criteria for ladies because then such ladies would be nowhere to be found in this world :)
Whoaaa, I was going to write such this topic, but it is nice knowing you raised this topic ahead of me :D
Here, I want to say I super duper agree with you!! As an independent girl (because I go wherever alone by myself by public transportation), I only find a few gentlemen. Why so? I have experienced so many things when I was outside and alone. The same thing happened to me in train, many guys sit and let me stand while bringing a heavy backpack. But I understand and try to be positive thinking that may be they were exhausted.
Another experience is when I was bringing a suitcase and a heavy big tote bag in bus, I stood in the back bus where mostly men. There, they were looking at me but nobody gave me a seat!! I grumbled to myself "Okay, no gentlemen here. Hey guys if you know that I'm tired and please be sensitive!". And after that moment, a gentleman rose from his seat and said to me "You can sit here, miss". I said "Thank you" and smiled to him. But unfortunately, he put his bag behind me (there is an empty place to put stuffs) and his thinner spill out inside his bag. Because of that, the smell spread into a bus and people feel uncomfortable. I felt bad about him because maybe he was in hurry to give me his seat, so the bag less fit.
But don't worry, there is still a few gentlemen over the world. Hopefully one will be mine, lol :D
Hello, Luci!
Nice topic! I live in Eastern Europe and I don't know how it is in Central Europe, but here, situation is deplorable:) If I have to be honest I don't know any ladies. When it comes to gentlemen, I've met just one so far and fortunately, he's mine :D Amen! :p