Where Have All The Good Guys Gone?! Young Thoughts on an Old Problem.

“Where have all the Good Men gone and where are all the gods? Where’s the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds? Isn’t there a White Knight upon a fiery steed?”
These are the immortal words of Bonnie Tyler. Never have thesewords been more true than as of today. As a teenage girl, I cannot help but wonder where all the good guys are.  Where is the chivalry? Where is the persistence men used to have when chasing a girl?

The song “I need a Hero” embodies what has slowly happened in the 20th to 21st centuries.  Gradually, the idea of “a white knight” has disappeared. Now, no one (including myself) knows where to look for them. As a girl, I dream about finding Prince Charming and falling in love and living happily ever after. I do not know of a girl who doesn’t (Feminists excluded). As I have grown older, however, it appears that “white knights” are low in stock.

I have not been on my first date yet, so I have had zero experience with guys treating me the way they should. Nonetheless, I do have first-hand accounts. Exhibit A: my sister.

My sister is twenty-one years old and in college and currently does not have a boyfriend. One day while she was at campus a random guy who seemed nice enough asked her out. She agreed. Of course she did not know what to expect, but I can bet she was not prepared for what happened. Mr. New Guy was very nice, polite, etc. . . up to a point. When they reached the theater he had no money to pay for the tickets! Hmmm. . . next he cursed. In front of my sister. And then he had the gall to voice the opinion that he had been a very good gentleman.

Maybe I am a little picky. After all beggars cannot be choosers. But still. Is there no one out there who agrees with me?

If there are any Knights out there in this big world they must be in hiding.

Ok, let’s get a little more serious shall we?
There are honorable men somewhere. I know, because I have witnessed some of them. But, honestly, it is not like we are living in the 1930’s where it was common knowledge that a boy was supposed to open the car door for a girl or that he was supposed to pay for dinner. These sort of ideals have just died out. That does not mean, however, that we have to bury them and sing “Auld Lang Syne.”  No. No. No!

Girls and women should not and I repeat SHOULD NOT stand for a man or boy treating them with disrespect.

Again, I am only seventeen. I do not have a lot of life experience, but, I have had a boy open the door for me and I have to say that I really liked it!

Girl’s today seem to think they have something to prove. Like there is weakness in wanting to have some handsome man sweep them off their feet. You can be a strong woman and be a damsel- in- distress at the same time. There is nothing shameful in that. Do not allow Feminists to tell you that you are a victim. Because you are absolutely NOT.

Women are the most privileged of the two sexes. So stop pretending that you are a victim. It is not getting you or us anywhere.

And men . . . you could try a little harder. Just saying.

At any rate, despite this little rant, I will say that somewhere out there, there are good guys. I guess right now they are just keeping a low profile.

 

A Small Candle in the Dark

Different. What is different? It is a word with many meanings. Sometimes good sometimes bad. Different can be standing out as the cool kid. Or different can be being the one who does not follow the crowd.
In this century of crowd followers it is easy to want to do the same. It is easy to just go with the flow and not worry about whether what you are doing is right or wrong just as long as it “feels good”.
Today we live in a country of lemmings following each other over the cliff never stopping to wonder is there another way. People go with whatever is considered the norm, even if they feel like it is wrong or rude or distasteful.  They do so because they do not want to be labeled as different or weird. Nobody wants to be called weird or different and nobody wants to be called out on not going with the crowd. That is why so many bad things happen. Gay marriage, transgender, people having tons of sex with no commitment for some examples.   People may not believe these things are right but because they do not want to be labeled as homophobe or a hater or not letting people be open or something that makes then seem to be bad people in the worlds eyes they go along with what everyone else thinks instead of speaking out.
Being a teenager in this age is really hard. Teenagers are the biggest culprits for being lemmings because the world of the teenager is ruthless. You can get ostracized, ignored, made fun of just for not wearing the “right” clothes.  As a teenager myself I have seen it happen to people all over the place.
People will always try to tell you, “Its ok to do it”.  It might be wrong but because you do not want to be different or be on the outside you convince yourself by thinking, “Everyone else is doing it. So it must be alright”.

Society is always going to try to tell you, “It’s ok to smoke drugs. Its ok to not listen to your parents. Its ok . . . its ok . . .    ”That voice inside you, however, is screaming, “No! NO! NO! It is not ok!”

Who are you going to listen to?
It would be easy to just listen to the little devil on your shoulder saying, “It’s ok. Do it.” Wouldn’t it? But I am telling you do not listen to that little voice, that devil.  In the end where will it get you? It will get you into terrible, maybe even terrible trouble. Listen to the voice inside your head screaming at you and warning you  not the ones outside of you telling that what ever feels good at that momment is the right thing to do .
If you think you are the only one who has these temptations you are wrong. Many, many people just like you have them too. If you can be strong enough to resist them you will get stronger and it will be easier to no next time you are tempted.  You may inspire someone else to slow down and think for themselves and say no too. That would create a domino effect and something good will come out of it.

Do not be afraid to say, “No. This is not right.” and walk away. Yes, you may be persecuted but in the end you are the one that wins. In the end you are that small candle that lights the way in this darkness.

Rachel Driscoll