"Yoo-hoo! Any Knights Still Alive?"

Hi everybody! I thought I'd take some time this afternoon and do a post of more substantial value than anecdotes from our trip...

Lately I've been reading Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. If anyone of you haven't read it, you really should. It is a brilliant masterpiece. So well-written if fact, that I found myself absolutely intrigued by the picture of knights in shining armor contesting on a field to win the prize of choosing the "Queen of Love and Beauty". Is it any wonder that a girl begins to long for the days of merry old England when chivalry was practiced by most, and cherished by all? When a man would fight to the death another man who had insulted a woman in any fashion? When the prize of keeping a maiden safe was coveted and contested for? I found myself wondering in a sighing sort of way, "Where have all the knights in shining armor gone?"
Isn't that funny? We maidens immediately assume that it the fault of the knights that they are not around. But if we feel that way, we are making a mistake. Let me tell you what really happened...
We maidens were not content to stay at the castle and be maidens. Nay, we refuted the help of a knight too many times. We, in foolish, puffed-up pride, decided that we could rescue ourselves from the dragon of so called "unfulfillment" by wearing the shining armor ourselves. We forsook the art of supporting the knights, and training our brothers to be knights, for some twisted picture that if we wore the shining armor, (that so ill-fits the feminine form and graces) we could rise to new heights, and come out princesses still. But while reaching for that illusive, wrong goal, here's what happened.
The knights found themselves unwanted. They were stripped of their dignity and manliness. Now that everyone wears armor, none of it shines. The armor, and chivalry has been dimmed by wrong ideas, and being refused over and over again. A knight no longer thinks to be strong for a lady. He has been lashed with a woman's tongue too many times, laughed at for trying to help her, and his place has been filled by maidens masquerading in armor, pretending to be happy. This is extemely wrong.
But take heart my maidens, and if any "closet knights" are reading this, listen please:
There is a host of maidens growing up, waiting willingly to be rescued by a true, chivalrous knight. There is another host of knights, who are dusting off their armor, daring to be men, and opening doors for ladies, whether they want it or not.
Let's not be deceived in thinking that chivalry has and always will have gone the way of leg-warmers, and bell-bottoms. No. But we as maidens must take pains to show the willing, but shy knights, that we are of a legion who wants to be rescued. And in this God-given position, we will find true fulfillment in being princesses: Daughters of the King of kings.