Chivalry

The chivalrous attitude that Argentines exude is something worth commending.  Everyone is chivalrous here, not just the male population.  Let me explain why I feel this way.  I was on the bus one day, nonchalantly minding my own business when a pregnant Argentine woman comes and sits in the open seat next to me.  After a couple stops the seats on the bus are all filled and only standing room is available.  An elderly woman with a cane gets on the bus at the next stop and walks towards the middle of the bus.  Since my stop was a long ways off, I had decided to take a little snooze, when all of a sudden I felt a tap on my arm.  I opened my eyes to see the pregnant lady tell me to get up and move in Spanish.  Since I was the one sitting by the window, it was kind of a shock at first.  Who is going to say no to a pregnant woman or to a grandmother with a cane?  Not me.  I decided to acquiesce to the lady’s request and got up and stood the rest of the trip before I got off the bus. 

This wasn’t the only case where I had seen Argentine chivalry being displayed.  I had noticed an elderly woman earlier being helped to her home with groceries by another gentleman and a lot of men have held doors open for ladies here.  Why isn’t this displayed in the United States to the same extent?  Why are we, in general, so self-centered back home while people here are more well-mannered than us?  These people for the most part are not as well of as we are, yet they still manage to retain their manners.  I shouldn’t say that everyone back home isn’t well-mannered because I know some people who should be commended, but chivalry is definitely something that we need to improve on.