Today, morality and ethics are rare commodities. Schools no longer teach morality; but religion is able to reach only a few and families are often broken. We see the results of this disjunction nightly on the television news, and yearn for a better world.
It is into this vacuum that the symbols of chivalry bring both memories of an idealized past and the promise for a better future. For indeed under the pressures of life man has only morality to defend his soul from the ravages of the world. Medieval tournament re-enactments recall something of these days gone past, compelling virtuous conduct by the mechanism of reputation. Though I cannot speak for all, tournament re-enactments give license to try out being good in a very gray world, to work towards a distant ideal. Many young men and women start down this path, finding that it brings both pleasure and a sense of peace with their world. The peace comes from the shield of ethics that they first begin to develop on the tournament field, gradually expanding it by baby steps to encompass their entire philosophy of life. In this sense tournament fighting is indeed a Western martial art--an art with a very old philosophy that speaks to the heart, as well as to the mind.
It is into this vacuum that the symbols of chivalry bring both memories of an idealized past and the promise for a better future. For indeed under the pressures of life man has only morality to defend his soul from the ravages of the world. Medieval tournament re-enactments recall something of these days gone past, compelling virtuous conduct by the mechanism of reputation. Though I cannot speak for all, tournament re-enactments give license to try out being good in a very gray world, to work towards a distant ideal. Many young men and women start down this path, finding that it brings both pleasure and a sense of peace with their world. The peace comes from the shield of ethics that they first begin to develop on the tournament field, gradually expanding it by baby steps to encompass their entire philosophy of life. In this sense tournament fighting is indeed a Western martial art--an art with a very old philosophy that speaks to the heart, as well as to the mind.
No indeed, chivalry is definately not dead.
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