Chivalry's not dead

If you looked up the word "gentleman" in a dictionary, you'd see a picture of my Grandad like this:

My Grandfather is proof that you don't need to do anything spectacular to leave a legacy, you can leave your mark just by being a good person.

I was walking along a footpath with Grandad when I was young, and I was on the house side while Grandad was on the road side, and he turned to me and asked "You wouldn't walk on that side of the path if you were walking with a lady would you?" Not knowing what he was getting at, I just said "Maybe. Why?" He told me that a man should always walk closest to the road in case a car flies off the road. "But wouldn't you get hit and killed?" I asked him, "Maybe. But you can push the lady to safety and save her," he told me.

Grandad taught me a lot of general courtesies: hats off inside, shirt on at the table, look people in the eye when you shake hands, stand up when a lady walks into a room, and he has always been described as the ultimate gentleman, but while I was visiting him in his nursing home yesterday, one of his mates, Athel, gave him a complement that is the perfect way for someone of my grandfather's stature to be described. He said if Grandad "couldn't do you a good turn, he wouldn't do you a turn at all."

And that is the legacy my Grandfather will leave for me - being a good person is enough.