Stand up straight and hold the door

"Colonel Grangerford was a gentleman you see. He was a gentleman all over...His hands was long and thin, and every day of his life he put on a clean shirt and a full suit from head to foot made out of linen so white it hurt your eyes to look at it; and on Sunday he wore a blue tail-coat and brass buttons on it...There weren't no frivolishness about him, not a bit, and he weren't never loud" --Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain. In the adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Col. Grangerford was a true southern gentleman of the time, but he was not without fault. The Colonel was a slave owner, and what appears in the pages to be a materialistic man. He was kind to the young stranger Huck, but completely full of hatred and contempt for his neighbors. This hatred was passed down to his son, Buck, who ultimately died as a result. One is drawn to believe, that Twain was intending to put onto a hilarious pedestal the over zealousness of the American well to do's of the time. The theme appears to be that a gentleman should not be surmised by possessions or status, but by his conduct in all environments. A recent complaint to me by a young woman was addressed to the area of the common conduct of men. This complainant stated that, modern southern men, base their status as men on, the size of the rack on a buck taken in the hunt, the quantity of beer they are able to consume and the winnings or losings of their favorite sports team. It seems that the majority of southern men are caught up in a Col. Grangerford approach of appearing on the outside to be a gentle man, but on the interior being a generally inconsiderate person to their true actions and the repercussions of those actions. Recently, I observed a young man of no more than 35 years of age, address a young woman concerning a possible physical relationship. The young man seemed by outward appearance to be rather dapper and clean in dress and grooming. The two did not appear to know each other and were in a public business. The man addressed the woman, by stating "hey girl! You wanna fu$k with me? Let me get your number". I was infuriated that this man would represent all men, by implying that this is an acceptable way to talk to a woman. The most deeply saddening part was that the woman appeared to have heard this type of comment several times before. I don't know which to be concerned with more. Either the fact that this is apparently common behavior, or that more than likely the average young woman probably believes that this is an accurate representation of our "southern men". This is call to all you true southern gentlemen, and all you rude, yellow bellied pigs of men, stand up straight, hold the door, pay a compliment, help with their jacket and quite speaking rudely of our women. Without our budding southern magnolias, there will be no more solid, stoic trees.