chivalry

I was listening to "Promiscuous Girl" the other day, and I found one of the lines hilarious. It's the part where she goes

"Roses are red, some diamonds are blue,
Chivalry is dead, but you're still kinda cute"

Haha. Don't know why, but it tickled me.

I get pleasantly surprised when I receive an act of chivalry - and for the most part, I don't expect it. I think it stems from the fact that all my life ("whole my life", as my dad would say) I've been treated like "one of the guys". I mean, much of that was my fault growing up, since I was not only the tomboy, but I was also intent on not being weaker than any guy around me so I probably gave off some sort of "I don't need you" message. As I got older and that began to wear off, I found myself not quite knowing how to be a girl. I didn't want to adopt any of the stereotypically annoying qualities that I observed in "girly girls" - and thought that people (including myself) wouldn't be able to handle the shock if I came out of my box of athletic wear and ponytails. Particuarly with this whole Taekwondo thing, I guess I project some sort of image that makes people view/treat me differently.

However, I think especially recently, I've been embracing my inner girl. Attempting to understand your identity as God made you is a difficult thing, but hey...He made you that way for a reason. The whole transition from what JAAC only describes only as "man pants" to boot cut was quite the shock. Whoever invented stretch material was a genius, I must say. The newfound addition of pink to my wardrobe and my first non-north face/adidas/nike bag was a little crazy. (As well as the concept that you can't use a black bag with a brown dress...)

When we were in Turkey last year, one of my coaches was from Oklahoma. He was so shocked to hear that I didn't expect a guy to hold my door, carry things for me, or whatever. He was like, "I wouldn't even think twice about opening the passenger door for my wife...or walking on the outside of the street". To which I was like "why would you walk on the outside of the street?" Haha, I think my ignorance made him sad.

So it snuck up on me recently that gentlemen are cool, and I should affirm my brothers who are quite chivalrous. I guess it's not a statement on women needing men to do something (though admittedly, they can lift a heck of a lot more), but...it's just a nice thing to do and I'm learning how to be gracious about being served.

After our first small group a couple wks ago, JH and I stuck around to clean up and debrief/pray a bit. (Praise God - people came out and it was a pretty good meeting!) One thing I really appreciate about JH is that he insists on walking me to the subway, at least the last couple times I've had to go way downtown. So although he lived within walking distance of our location that week, he took me to the subway and went in and stood on the platform with me until my train came. Man, there's $2 he'll never see again.

I think God breaks down my pride in little ways. And I think it's a good thing. Maybe chivalry isn't dead after all. And maybe I need to learn that in serving, you also have to learn how to be served.