Old World Charm

As children, we are taught standards of etiquette from our parents. Some common social manners that are passed on from generation to generation include mothers telling daughters to cross their legs when seated, fathers informing their sons to open doors for ladies, and the of course the "never-supposed-to-be-forgotten" ladies first rule.
As society modernizes and lines of gender inequalities and imbalance blur and cease, these societal standards have taken a backseat. No longer are girls reprimanded for "playing like a boy" (it can even be argued that playing like boys is actually healthy for girls). Gone are the days when boys were scolded for sitting at the dinner table before ladies were seated. And the idea of a man laying his jacket down over a puddle so that a woman could cross is completely unfathomable. The list goes on.
Since I am a part of Generation Y, I can't exactly say that I'm disappointed in young people today and their lack of adherence to standards of society, but I do want to say that it's always a nice treat when I witness people adhering to these "old-school"standards of etiquette.
I am fortunate to have a charming grandfather as my neighbor. He is always in a cordial and happy-go-lucky mood and I love enjoy stopping and chatting with him whenever I see him on our street.  Not only is he wise, genuinely interesting, but he also exhibits oozes old world charm. After spotting him by his mailbox and catching up with him, he took off his hat, brought it down to his chest in acknowledgment and bid me a good afternoon. I was in awe of how wonderful it felt to be acknowledged so properly and so pleasantly.
Then again today, I was walking downtown and a gas and electric serviceman was getting into his pickup, saw me, warmly smiled and nodded his head.  It was more than a regular 21st century nod but more like a 1950's milkman making a friendly delivery and personally greeting the mistress of the house. It was that communicative.
I had previously thought old world charm gestures like these were endangered species, if not already extinct.  But the actions of these two gentlemen have me believing that there may still be a herd or two of these wondrous creatures left.

Update: Where am I Now?

A couple of people have been asking me how my resolutions/positivity pledges are going so far. They're curious to see if I've fallen off the pescetarian horse or if I've given in to some fanciful floral skirt just as spring comes knocking.  Well, here's an update:

I am going strong in the shopping department!

And...

I'm still on the pescetarian horse, but just barely dangling with my bootstraps stuck in the stirrups and my tiny but mighty hands clutching the reins for dear life. Why? Well I was doing fairly well for about 3 weeks and then a piece of steak (of all things, it had to be a piece of steak!) staked its way through my pledge. My mom had marinated  too much and fearing that it would go bad, she ordered ("asked" in reality but you say tomato, I say tomato) me to eat it.  With a dab of honey mustard, I hate to say it but it was rather delicious.  By the fifth bite however, I was regretting my choice.
I haven't slipped up since, but that doesn't excuse this major slip-up.  Thus, I say I am dangling off the horse just barely holding on because my bootstraps are stuck in the stirrups and I stubbornly refuse to let them budge.