Chivalry Is Dead--Or Is It?

It seems that there are no good civilians these days. It's sad. I mean, when I was a little girl, about eight maybe, I was walking with my brother to the Boys and Girls Club. I found this really expensive looking camera, you know, one of those bulky professional ones, just lying there on the sidewalk. My brother--who is now in college, and is also four years my senior--hadn't noticed it. I picked it up, and right away, he told me to hide it. To my curious look, he said, "So we can sell it and stuff." Even when I was young, I knew that it was wrong. I usually abide by the rule of Finders Keepers, but that was with my family and close friends, not with random people's property--I considered it a form of stealing, and stealing was Not Good. So I took it to the Boys and Girls Club and gave it to the manager of the place. He looked at me funny when I did that, but I just smiled up at him. There was a phone number and name on it, so after I left, he called up the owner. I had expected to get nothing out of it, 'cept for maybe my own pride and satisfaction.  But the owner, a lady who was a photographer for a living, gave me a $20 gift certificate. I was so excited by that, and from that day on, I believed in karma. And how much of a bitch it can be when you put your own selfish needs before the more important needs of another.

It's disappointing, though, when you look around you and it turns out that nobody really believes in that sort of thing anymore. I mean, I lost my really expensive touch screen MP3 a week ago, and nobody will 'fess up or conveniently leave it on my desk. And yeah, it's my own dumb ass fault for not securing it better in my messenger bag, but there it is. I guess I shouldn't hope, though, that someone will be all nice and stuff and give it back to me or something. Foolish and naive, yes, but I still believe in chivalry, or whatever it's called, and all that schtick.