Chivalry

Chivalry

noun, plural -ries for 6.

1. The sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms.

2. The rules and customs of medieval knighthood.

3. The medieval system or institution of knighthood.

4. A group of knights.

5. Gallant warriors or gentlemen: fair ladies and noble chivalry.

There is a term you don’t hear often anymore.  When I think of the wars in the Middle East, and Viet Nam, and Korea, I think, brave soldiers fighting unnecessary wars.  WWI and WWII, now those were necessary.  I know only a few veterans from WWII.  My dad was one of them and my friend John too.  It is difficult to imagine men that are so talented, kind and generous spending so much energy on killing other human beings.  But those were necessary.  I imagine that they were chivalrous.  Yes, this is war, it sucks, and I hate killing.  As for Hitler, there was no other way to stop the genocide and innocent killing of others.   If we didn’t stop it ,it would have taken over the world.

There is a short film at http://spiritclips.com/films/chivsky.  It is especially heartwarming to watch if you were in WWII, and even more so if you flew.