When my wife and I leave for anywhere, I always do the gentlemanly thing, opening the car door for her, or entering buildings, opening the door -- which always puzzles and delights her.Often, smiling, she says: "My boyfriends never did that -- and I always told them a thing or two about it, too!"I wasn't necessarily "brought up" to think this way, that a man in some ways should be subservient to a woman, even though I did grow up in the South (Southern California). Many of my friends have said: "Why do you insist on doing that? It's kind of disgusting. Women are modern, nowadays, and we are not under the Gentleman's Law, any longer."Why do I do it? I guess I could look at it as if: "It is a Gentleman's Code, and I MUST follow it!" But if I did, I would soon loathe going anywhere. When my wife and I approach a door of any kind, I would probably sigh before opening it. Pretty soon I would probably be saying things like: "LOOK at all I do for you! I open doors, like crazy, there's doors EVERYWHERE, I'm always opening doors for you, and WHAT do you do for MEEEEEE?!!!" Or maybe that: "I've done so much for YOU, now whaddayagonna DO for ME!?"I love her. It makes me happy to make her happy. Opening doors is in no fashion a drudgery. In fact, I look forward to opening doors for her, or pesky mayonnaise jars (then she can admire my strength). I love to carry ALL the groceries (and I hate to admit it, but I do all the grocery shopping as well). And I don't mind getting up at 3:30 in the morning to warm up the formula, or even to change a diaper or two.Do I consider myself to be serving a hard taskmaster? Is this "salvation by adherence to legalism?" Not at all. It's love. Am I "under" the gentleman's law?No way.It's love.And that makes all the difference in the world.
