The Old Code: The right can never die, If one man still recalls.
The most important of Old Code Essays
The Right can never die if one man still recalls is a great phrase, and a great ideal. The notion that righteousness is something that can never truly perish from this world is an ideal that gets harder and harder to believe in with every passing day. Always this has been the way of the world; brutality and savagery reigns, and sinfulness is easy with virtue being tough.
To do what is right, is tough as said, but while it doesn’t always pay financially as my mother tends to say, it is always worth it. An ideal I can well understand and even appreciate, and that ought to be borne in mind. Doing what is right, is something that involves another great virtue; duty. Duty is a hard one to come to terms with, as it usually involves sacrifice and compromise and the idea of things such as family, country and culture being bigger than we individuals. Or there could be the concept of duty to one’s friends, who can become a sort of family.
What this ideal speaks to is that so long as one person knows what is right, the ideals of the likes of Arthur, or of Buddha, Jesus or whomever you aspire after will always exist. They live on in those who chose to aspire after their example, and who do what is right by others.
This usually involves protecting the innocent, the invalid, and those around us from harm, it involves politeness, kindliness and as said sacrifice.
It is integral that chivalry and honour live on, why? Because they are all that best in men. They encourage men to aspire after more than what they are. It is these ideals that push men to the defence of hearth and home, to protect others from what lies out there, beyond the village.
Take for example how the Roman legions defended Rome the city, then later the ‘Res Publica’ and then still later the Empire. The legions were tasked with doing that which was expected at the time of all men; to defend the homeland, to protect their homes and people from external invasions.
It happens that when the legions disappeared Rome did not last long after them, this is because a people without defenders have few means of protecting themselves. That said, Rome was to become an idea, an ideal to strive towards, as demonstrated by Charlemagne and Otto I and their successors who sought to emulate Rome. It can also be seen in the Greek East, where the ‘Second Rome’ was to be found in Constantinople. So long as one people or person remembered her, Rome lived on, much as with the ideal of honour.
‘The right can never die, so long as one man recalls,’ does not refer to a physical death, so that as in the case of King Arthur of myths, or even the likes of the historical Jehanne D’Arc, they live on forever. They are not merely names in a children’s book or history text book, if one strives to do great things and does enough one’s place in history is won. At that time more than one’s name lives on forever, as one becomes immortal in a sense, it can refer to the likes of also for the artists; Ludwig Van Beethoven, or John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Both good men, both superb artists who accomplished great things and who now live forever in a sense.
So long as one man recalls their magnificent deeds, remembers what they did they live on in that person. Jehanne or Robert the Bruce’s patriotism, and love for their countries live on, just as Beethoven’s love of music and music lives on in his listeners and admirers.
And so it is with right action and chivalry, so long as one person remembers and behaves with honour, it is not dead but living still. So long as one person acts with chivalry, it can never die. The reason for this is that it lives on in any man who honours the ideals and carries them forth to the next generation.
The notion proposed by Dragonheart is that chivalry never truly died, certainly there were efforts to kill it over the past two centuries. Notably by the followers of Karl Marx and Hegel, such as Stalin, Mao and Hitler (amongst others, many whom are alive to this very day), and yet heroism and honour still lives on. Observe the men who bravely fought on D-Day, or the French forces who fought at Dunkirk to give time for the British to flee across the Channel.
It can still be observed to-day though one must as always search for examples of this ideal, notably it can be found amongst men such as one plumber I saw in the newspaper who agreed to fix a 90 year old woman’s water-pipes for free, giving her his number and vowing that she would never have to pay for any of his services. This is called chivalry, it lived on still, or it can be observed amongst some of the French riots, when the younger French who have no expectation of retirement, decided to protest for their baby-boomer parents’ rights to retire.
These are two examples of chivalry, it can also be found among those who practice ‘ladies first’ this is a form of chivalry. One that keeps the old ideals alive, and that demonstrates to those around oneself that one man at least still remembers the ‘Once Ways’. So long as one man recalls them, they live still.
One can observe in cinema examples such as Luke Skywalker who recalls what it is to do the right thing long after the likes of Ben and Vader have forgotten how, there is also Bowen who thought honour dead throughout most of the film only to realize later that it lived still in him. He was the last man to recall the ‘Once Ways’ as Draco calls them, and so they lived on still.
There is in literature, the likes of Conan, Frodo, Sam, Boromir and Aragorn all of whom embody these ideals oh and Faramir and Gandalf also, so long as they lived chivalry and hope lived still also.
The phrase ‘Chivalry is dead’ is a popular idiom of modern cinema, and one must ask; why is that? Well it is because film-makers and those they work for WISH chivalry to be dead. To say that a thing is dead, is an attempt to kill it’s echo, its memory. So that if you repeat a thing long enough, it certainly must be true, correct? No. This is a sophism, this is a false belief that some have, as the phrase goes; ‘repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth’. This is false, repeat a lie often enough and it remeains a life, it is just that the truth will tear it apart even more violently when the time comes.
Chivalry is not dead, because so long as one man remembers, it lives still. So Hollywood has failed in the killing of it, plain and simple. This is because so long as one man comported himself with decency it lives on.
This is not mere philosophy this is the truth, so long as one person acts with decency and chivalry towards another, the ideals of chivalry live on. There is no reason to be ‘black-pilled’ on this front, certainly there are many who don’t act for fear of punishment by the state (as many have taken to punishing people for doing the right thing), but they are in an uphill battle. They cannot win, as they are warring with human nature itself.
Humanity has not changed in 10,000 years. It is impossible for it to change completely and utterly. Sure, there’s some ugliness to humanity, but recall also that there is beauty in humanity, let us look now to Michelangelo who painted his magnificent frescos, or the beautiful Cathedrals and stone sculptures of the Gothic era of church building. Pristine and beautiful, they speak to a beautiful people, one who live on to this day and who’s ideals live on. These people have passed down a remarkable legacy down to us their children, and so long as one of us recall the ideals of decency and beauty they live on still as with all things.
Chivalry, beauty, these are ideals not mere words, and are difficult to live up to and yet worth aspiring after. Many may scorn them, because there are many who scorn good and righteousness in every generation, and yet there are those who revere still these ideals and who long for better days, or to do the right thing. So long as one heart is moved to goodness, then Chivalry lives on. So long as one person recalls, the right can never die.
What is more is that one SHOULD recall these things, and why? Because, people, chivalry, beauty they are all worth it. Because where would we be without these things?
Don't let it be forgot,
that once there was a spot,
for one brief shining moment,
that was known as Camelot.
That was perfect. I am a firm believer in Chivalry. My father was an inspiring example of how to live that life. His life formed the bedrock of my life. This is why parenting is so crucial — to instill these values in new generations. I read my children all the classic literature, chivalrous tales and historical legends that epitomize this behavior. Roland, Arthur, William Wallace, Parsifal Sam, Frodo and so many others. Now they read them to my grandchildren. It is a way of life that can be found in out of the way places.
Thank you. It is so inspiring to see someone resonate with these ideas and articulate them so well. Bravo!