It only takes one.

Yes, that's right folks! Step right up and see the man of the hour. Don't get to close though! He is relic in today's' world. Yes sirree! He is a dinosaur of the worse kind. The kind that is extinct and does not know it. His kind of gentlemanly manners and courteous ways are for another era, another time, another life. One day, he will get the idea and extinct himself.
In today's world, if you want to get along and get up in the world, you need to be able to steal candy from a baby and make the baby think you are doing him a favor. You should be able to sell ice cubes to Eskimos and make them think that ice is something new and wonderful. You have to be able to look someone in the eye and lie through your teeth. I have seen some academy award performances, much to my chagrin. It should not be like this, but it is.
Why? I do not know. I have been in a position for the last year and 9 odd months to study a whole new class of people. A class of people that, up until my ex-wife threw me away, I, thankfully, had no knowledge of at all. The people will steal from anyone, at anytime and for any reason and sometimes, for no reason at all. I can not understand them. I have tried. It is like some foreign sub culture. Not that they are from other countries, mind you, just that their way of thinking and doing is, well, f*cked up.
I have a lot of new friends, now, some good, some bad, some indifferent. Each of them actually has some redeeming qualities, but for some reason, they refuse to use them. They would rather be just on the other side of right and just and good. They prefer to play the "game." I keep telling them, it is not a game. This is life and death. The winners stay alive to see another day and the losers do not.
In another life, I thought I was a winner. I was a full time father and husband. I loved my spouse and I loved my children. I worked full time. I helped with the housework and the kids. I did all of the things I thought I was supposed to do as a husband and father. I did not cheat on her. I did not spend every weekend out with the guy's or away from home. I knew in my mind's eye that I was going to be in that life until I was called home. My spouse had other ideas. After 16 years of knowing her and 13 years of marriage, she decided she was done with me. At lunch one day, two years ago this October, she looked right past me with a blank expression on her face and said, "I can't live like this anymore." My happy little world ended with that one simple sentence. She could have just as easily put a pistol to my head and pulled the trigger. The result was the same.
It only takes one. It only takes one person to end another person's life or change it forever. Whether by violence or verbal expression. It only took one person to take away everything I ever wanted in life. I am dealing with it much better these days. Early on, I could have used the pistol myself. I did not. (Obviously) My therapist said to me, "Why not stick around and see how it all turns out?" I could not think of a good reason not to, so I stayed. I did, however, have the very best of reasons to stay, and that was my children. I live for them, now. I will be there for them, always. And I will teach them how to be gentlemen. They deserve that. Ladies, chivalry is not dead! As a matter of fact, it is doing quite well. Look for a true gentleman and you will never be disappointed.