Chivalry
Of knights and noblemen, chivalry is the combination of qualities that make an ideal knight: courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and helping the weak. It’s some habits of highly effective people. Admirable. Just not sexy.
Picture a stunning lady in a red dress walking through town. A tall man with a lantern jaw swings his broad shoulders to hold the door open for her. She winks a thank you and makes way inside. Two steps in and a dragon dives from the tower, snarling smoke as it rushes to make her the next pretty meal. A short and skinny Asian dude leaps off his computer and thrusts a shimmering broadsword into the center of the dragon’s heart.
Which guy gets the girl?
The skinny slayin’ Asian. Dude’s got a better ice-breaker. He’s even got dinner ready if she ain’t allergic to dragon burgers.
Adoration and courtesy are great qualities, but those are about distance. Politeness is the death of attraction. We yearn to bond. And ain’t no better bonding than mutual reveling in the proverbial blood of our adversaries. We fall in love over hating the same shit.
When you know that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent, dragons become lizards.
Break the fantasy. We’re all a little broken. Ask not why is she so hot. Ask how she feels about Nickelback. No one is ugly. Some of us are just boring.