My favorite tales as a child were those of King Arthur and the knights of the Roundtable. How noble, how powerful, and timeless. I read Morte De Arthur, The Once and Future King, and numerous other versions of the famed tales.
In my last year of teaching in a public school, I had the students read a new version of the King Arthur Story. I won't go into the details of the label, but suffice it to say the book was boring and sucked the life out of the story. Why? Well, in our age of political correctness and of not making judgments of any kind, the story was nothing more than a fable of some guys just playing pretend. Was there talk of infidelity? Nope. Any mention of Galahad and the Holy Grail? Nope. Merlin and his wisdom? Nope. Left out and gone. Of the notion of the Roundtable? Only cursory.
How sad, how truly unbelievably, sad. For it is in the tales of Lancelot, Guinevere, Galahad, Arthur, Merlin, and their successes, failures, and human frailty, that we pull away lessons that can give us guidance and hope. It is also about a model for leadership.
As I have created an identity for Templar Man, the stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the Roundtable have come back to me. Is there something for me? 21st Century man? Undeniably yes. Are there some valuable lessons for kids in the King Arthur stories. YES... let's not wash them aside my fellow adults and educators. They are not to be wasted, rubbed away as if they didn't exist. As if the message is as old as the stories.
So in a nutshell... Lessons I learned from King Arthur Stories.
1. Male Bonding- Yes males bond in a unique and different way than females... one is not better or worse per se, but when males have a direction, a focus, and a belief, men can be inspired to greatness. Men are by nature aggressive, and as Psychologist Michael Gurian argues, if males do not harness there aggression in positive ways, they will channel it in negative ways. Boys need to be taught the tools for channeling their aggressive impulses. Sports is often that training ground. If they don't have sports or a competent coach, they can often fall into the trap of violent gang culture or other inappropriate outlets.
2. Male chivalry- Ok so this one is probably on its way out, but the reason's why are totally wrong headed. I learned chivalry from my father. To him, opening a door for a woman was always required. When a woman comes to a table during a dinner conversation, all men must stand. Ok... so the fallout from the women's rights movement neutered these simple acts, as being paternalistic or in some bizarre way condescending. How truly sad. My father taught me these things as the ultimate show of respect to women. Just as the ultimate rule that my brother and I learned, never.... NEVER hit a woman, ever. My sisters of course reveled in this rule, and often teased my brother and I to the limit. Yet, as far as I know, we have never hit a woman. Can we please speak the truth that most females are weaker than males in physical strength? To observe these rules is a show of ultimate respect, fully realizing that women's strengths are many and just as important. I am sad that boys are no longer taught these rules. Is it a surprise that young boys and girls now gravitate towards rap music that often portrays women in the most derogatory ways imaginable. And few dare to speak out against it. Schools don't, parents don't, the media rarely acknowledges that the base crudeness of so many rap songs and the oppressive message it sends to men and women. So if anyone should read this... please I beg of you... take a listen to your kids collection of music from time to time. And please... I have never been big on censorship, but sometimes you have to tell them to delete certain songs, or at the very least have a good discussion on the harmful message of disrespect and degradation these songs convey. It could be the most important discussion you can have.
To be continued...
