Maybe never a Knight, but always knightly

Let's face it, many of us will never truly be knights.  Unless you live in a country where being knighted is still a possibility, it's not going to happen. 



Knighthood can be the same.  Medieval knighthood was something less than 2% of the population was ever granted.  There were many criteria that a person had to fit into before even being considered.  It was only open to men of wealth and good class (nobility and such)  and even then the candidate had to be trained and proficient in combat.  No one was granted knighthood that couldn't tick all the boxes, and most of them were simply out of a persons reach for reasons they had no control over. 

With this in mind, I say, don't strive to be a knight, strive to be knightly.  The title of "Sir" comes with it a certain amount of responsibility, and it's something that you never get a break from. 

I'm an Eagle Scout, and during the ceremony I received it, I was reminded of this same responsibility.  The told me that I was now the example, and representative, of every Eagle Scout that was, is, and will be.  My actions reflect on them, theirs on me.  Every good deed I did, that's being an Eagle Scout.  Along with that, every misdeed I did, I was telling the world the same thing:  that's being an Eagle Scout.  At some point, I would be the first Eagle Scout someone would ever meet, and how I acted would tell that person that I was acting the way Eagle Scouts act.

This can be a heavy burden, but it's one I was prepared for.  I had spent a long time learning about what it meant to be that way, and worked on myself for that.  If I didn't ever get the rank, I could at least have taken comfort in the fact that I would hold myself to that standard.  During my review board, I was told they had to stop asking me questions because I was continually confirming that I already was an Eagle Scout, and that all I needed was them to give me the rank I had already earned.

While most of us will never become a knight in the eyes of the world, we can at least strive towards the ideals that it invokes.  Acting in a knightly manner doesn't mean trying to convince people you are a knight, nor does it mean acting like people are beneath you.  As a previous post showed, acting like a knight means you're there for others before yourself. 

So be knightly, regardless of any title it may or may not ever give you