https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/11/entertainment/sally-field-burt-reynolds-oscars/index.html

In a recent interview, Sally Field revealed that Burt Reynolds refused to go with her to the Oscars. Apparently upset at all the attention she was getting, Reynolds who later claimed in his biography that Fields was the love of his life simply failed in performing the duty of a gentleman.

A gentleman in a relationship honors his partner’s accomplishment. The circumstance that her accomplishments may be eclipsing his own is completely, totally irrelevant. Maybe he should have watched a couple of the “A Star is Born” movies to get him in the proper frame of mind.

But Sally was rescued. David Steinberg and his wife stepped in to accompany her to the event even getting a limousine and champagne. Now, that is the act of a gentleman and a lady. It is what good breeding and intelligence expects.

Why is this important? A lot of what we see in the media is the popularization of the refusal to observe social morays and the duties of citizenship and our obligations to our fellow Americans.

Now, before you jump on me for supporting the often stultifying demands of small town life, know you that I have been in revolt from these all my life. I’m not talking about the mundane pain of the old biddies that seem to dictate much local culture, I’m talking about real duties, like paying attention to reputable news while avoiding conspiracy breeding nonsense. Diving into a cult of belief, joining the flat earth society or engaging in the hideous behavior of making abusive phone calls and sending vile e-mails to political opponents are all massive failure of the duties of ladies and gentlemen.

A great society is inhabited by a spirit of nobility, not by birth which is simple nonsense. (Observe Prince Andrew.) Real nobility, the kind achieved by action, experience and training is something that the best among us have strived to achieve for generations. It is a club that we can all join and we should aspire to.

James Alan Pilant

The picture above is from Wikipedia which I borrow with sincere thanks – and provide the attribution they recommend.

Robert Vaughan (circa 1600 – 1660) – National Portrait Gallery – https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw133194/Richard-Brathwaite