Reepicheep's Chivalry

This morning I woke to my brother's face peeping in the door.

"You're awake!" he said (rather triumphantly).

"Mmmphh..."

"Come on; it's 10:00. Get up!" he insisted.

"Okay...fine..." I began groggily as I began to actually wake up. Then things took a whole new turn as he began to stare at my bookshelf.

"I still don't know where you hid your diary! Last time it was in pretty plain sight!" Pip mused.

"Why do you want to read my diary anyway? There's nothing new since you last found it," I was not extremely distressed, because I know exactly where it is and he'll never find it.

"You won't tell me anything, so I have to read about it-if I ever find it,"

"Not true! I tell you lots of stuff!"

"Not the stuff you write in your diary," he countered. "I'll find it soon."

"Ok. Look around, then." I sat propped up by my pillows and watched, bemused, as he searched without result. He didn't find it (thank goodness!!!!). He'll never ever find it, now!

So later today we took him to "Chivalry Camp", where he'll hang out with other guys and hopefully learn that it's really not the most chivalrous thing to do to search your sister's room for her diary.
This, of course, led me to think of dear little Reepicheep.

"I do believe courageous, courteous, or chivalrous might more benefit a knight of Narnia," is his way of putting things.
Well, let's just say the world could use some Reepicheeps (though not too many or the world would be overrun with valiant but extremely pompous little people).
Helping with night raids on an evil king's castle wouldn't befit most people, but it might just whip some of us into shape!
Pip is very dear to me, and he mostly means well. I can't blame him for wanting to get some attention from an older sister. The only problem is that I'm really not much older than him. He's 355 days younger than me: 10 days shy of a year. I can't hold his hand and teach him things (I'm known to be a bit motherly to him...that's not recieved well) like I'd enjoy doing, because he's not a little kid. He's a kid, just not a little one.
Which is another reason why I think Narnia would do us all some good. It doesn't force children to become adults or force them into adult situations. It simply prepares us for the road ahead. Most children and/or teens could imagine themselves fighting bravely for a beloved country. I know I could see myself doing the like. The only problem is that I don't believe there's any honour whatsoever in riflery and machine guns. Whatever happened to knowing exactly who you're fighting and why? I'd rather give a man/woman a fair fight. They deserve life just as much as we do. So I give Reepicheep a strong round of applause for his efforts in the ways of chivalry. I might be viewed as "old-fashioned" for that reason, but it's worth it to know that in Narnia, progress is/was viewed as something Caspian had seen in a bad egg (if you've read VDT extensively, you know exactly what I'm talking about). Not all progress, just most progress. The computer I'm using has its uses, but who knows: if no one had discovered electricity, no one would care if there were computers or not. There would be a stronger love of family and friendships, honour, chivalry, and justice. I may be going a bit deeper than usual, but sometimes it's necessary to tell the world exactly what you think. Even if on;y one person in the entire universe has even glanced at it, it feels good to express what you're feeling every once and a while. Wow. All this comes from a kid looking for his sister's diary. And life is feeling great right now.

I wonder why.