Tragedy, Leadership and Chivalry

One of the basic tenets of chivalry is to provide help for the needy and to protect those in peril.

With that in mind, news reports indicating that the government in Myanmar is denying aid for a quarter-million people left homeless and hungry due to national disaster seemed appalling enough. Even worse - according to today's news - is that the government is taking food, medicine and water provided by international relief efforts and "redirecting" it - so that it will appear to the people of the country that the help is coming from the military government.

Using tragedy and suffering to score political points seems about as far from the ideals of chivalry as you can get.

But it's worth remembering, whenever we think that chivalry is obsolete or unnecessary in today's world, that there are still leaders who'll do such things.

Read more here: Military Junta Hands Out Aid in Myanmar

Chivalry Rounds the Bases

When I suggest that "chivalry" can be used in (and might actually improve) athletic competition, I often hear snickers. But a recent event demonstrates, I think, the power that real chivalry can have - the power to elevate competition above a simple contest for trophies or titles, to something that touches our hearts and raises our spirits.

Here's what happened: When a player in an otherwise-routine girls' college softball game sustained a debilitating knee blow-out during a home-run lap and collapsed on the baseline, the officials told her team members that an article of the rules stated her run would be invalidated if anyone from her own team made contact with her before she completed the run. Noting that the umpire didn't say anything about the opposing team's members, the first-baseman and the shortstop picked her up, and carried her around the field to score her run.

The story must have hit a nerve. It was picked up by CNN, The New York Times, ESPN, the Associated Press, and darned near every major print and broadcast media source in the country.

There has been debate as to whether this was a real act of athletic excellence, or just a nice little oddity that would never have occurred at the level of professional sports. (And, predictably, there were several comments implying that this might be something that would only happen in girls' sports - that guys (the "real athletes" - grrr!) would never be so naive or sentimental as to let honor and respect get in the way of winning a game. ... sigh ... )

In my opinion, however, this act of chivalry, and the tidal wave of coverage it set off, really speaks to the hunger we have to see this sort of thing. Would the "majors" have done such a thing in a World Series playoff game? Maybe not. If a professional player did do something like this in a nationally televised playoff game, would it go down, not just in the record books, but in the history books? You bet! That's what sports are all about, and that's what makes the difference between a winning season and a memorable career - too bad many coaches and athletes lose sight of that.

I'm hoping to cover this incident in more depth in a future article on the website, or possibly even get one of the players as an interview on the podcast.

Read the report about the Sara Tulchosky incident in the April 30 edition of the New York Times.

Prince Caspian & Chivalry - Podcast 21

Greetings,

Episode 21 is now available on the website (and through Apple iTunes and other services). In it, I have a wonderful interview with Prof. Devin Brown, author of "Inside Narnia" and "Inside Prince Caspian" about the ideals of knighthood and chivalry inside the writing of CS Lewis. Of course, we talked a lot about Prince Caspian - that being an upcoming summer blockbuster and all! Most interesting to me was his thoughts on the Order of the Lion and the Order of the Table - the two Narinian orders of chivalry mentioned by Lewis in Prince Caspian. But he also had some interesting views on why Lewis (a combat veteran from the trenches of WWI) saw chivalry as a necessary military principle - and how Lewis's ideal of chivalry can (and - ahem - should) still be employed in military doctrine today. I don't think CS Lewis would have had any question about whether or not torture or terrorism should be considered "acceptable" means of winning a war.

Also, I had a great talk with Jennifer Lynn Jordan (who - for some odd reason - I keep trying to call Jennifer Lynn Jones ... ) about some very enjoyable graduate-study projects she's done using sock puppet theater (just like you remember from first grade!) to bring authentic romances of chivalry to modern audiences. You can see versions of Yvain and Aucassin et Nicolette in "sock puppet theater" format on the website!

What's upcoming? Well, I'm working on a post-event report on the American Sword of Chivalry tournament - an ESPN style sports report about a real jousting tournament. (I've even got a locker-room interview with Arne Koets, the winner of the tournament!)

For future productions - I'm hoping to do a report focusing on Monty Python's take on King Arthur and the Code of Chivalry. Not just "Holy Grail," but also "The Fisher King" (done by Terry Gilliam - one of the Python alum) and "Spamalot." I think it might give some interesting insights on how these ancient legends are viewed today.

Also ... I'm thinking about doing something about "chivalry in the opera." Did you know there's an opera about King Arthur? Not just that, but of course, many of those Wagnerian operas involve Round Table knights and the Grail Quest. Right now, I'm looking for an expert in the field of opera and Arthurian legend. Anyone with any ideas? ... feel free to contact me.