Oct 06, 2003 06:49
The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.
- John Walter Wayland (Virginia 1899)
These words were something I learned early on in life, and actually followed quite literally until about 8 or 9 years ago. I rediscovered them recently, and when I truly read each trait I must admit that I feel somewhat ashamed of myself because I cannot *honestly* say that I have lived up to each of these qualities. It is good for me to realize this. I have been using as my excuse for too long the fact that *other* men generally do not live up to hardly any of these traits. That is not being a True Gentleman, that is being a finger pointing, excuse maker. The world clearly has more than enough of those already. I can only control me, not the deeds of other men. My deeds have not followed my words, and I am making a promise to myself to change this. Some may call it self improvement, I call it personal evolution. As we all know, in nature that which does not evolve, learn, and adapt will be made extinct in the long run. True Gentleman have been made practically and operationally extinct in modern culture, therefore I will take it upon myself to be a leader, to change myself, and to hopefully set a good example. Hopefully one or two others will follow, if not at least I can be quietly comfortable with who I am. For while I may not have been a True Gentleman in my deeds for far too long a time, I have *always* truly been one in my heart.