Lately, the streets have been a true \u201cchaos soup.\u201d
\nIt seems like the two regular rush hours, which used to occur like clockwork, have mixed day with night, like a newborn jumbled time together. The city stands still almost all day, and only when the big shopping centers politely usher out the last customer does it finally quiet down, the streets exhale, and breathe in a short respite before the morning returns with fresh sieges.<\/p>\n
The city hums.
\nEveryone is moving.
\nOld and young.
\nExperienced and beginners.
\nThose skilled with the \u201cbeeper\u201d and those sitting patiently pretending they don\u2019t know how to use it.
\nMen and women.
\nGirls and boys.
\nIn a crowded city, everyone is trying to reach their goal, which today, as a rule, is very noble\u2014GIFTS.<\/p>\n
Yesterday morning, in a rapidly filling store parking lot, a small car had been swaying back and forth in front of me for a while.
\nAt first, I didn\u2019t pay attention, then I focused. I might have looked away, but the little car blocked my path. Behind the wheel sat a woman, already quite flustered. The situation was simple, but for her, it was tricky.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, a man appeared from somewhere, carrying large bags and a red poinsettia.
\nI realized he was a stranger. He set his purchases down on the ground, walked around the \u201cstuck\u201d woman\u2019s car from all sides, and with gentlemanly hand gestures began showing her which way to turn the wheel and how far she could go before hitting the next car.<\/p>\n
In a few seconds, the flustered woman was free.
\nAnd the older man, gathering his purchases back into his arms, walked away with the red Christmas flower\u2026
\nand in my eyes, adorned with the purest gentlemanliness.<\/p>\n
The day before yesterday, after Dominykas\u2019s school Christmas celebration, our whole family decided to visit the Christmas tree. Time\u2014after work, super \u201cpeak.\u201d
\nLocation\u2014as you know, the very city center.
\nSome people were coming from work, some \u201cto the tree,\u201d some to company parties, some to eat a warm dinner.
\nEveryone was moving.
\nEveryone was rushing.<\/p>\n
At the main traffic light, a line of cars had formed. A woman pulled out from a side street. We let her pass, but the direction in which her mid-aged car was headed was also congested.
\nBlocking the car in front of mine, driven by my husband, she kept searching for a gap to slip into\u2014and could not find one.
\nVisibility was poor; there were many cars.
\nI saw her illuminated face.
\nHer anxious eyes, flickering with self-directed anger for her indecision,
\nand an even greater fear of getting into an even trickier situation right here and now.<\/p>\n
Then the \u201cbeepers\u201d started from behind.
\nFirst one.
\nThen the chorus.<\/p>\n
I watched my husband.
\nCalm.
\nWaiting.<\/p>\n
I saw the cars behind him start to overtake, slowing down, glaring angrily at us sitting and waiting until the indecisiveness of the woman blocking our path ended.<\/p>\n
Our car was overtaken and accompanied again and again by the shrill roar of \u201cbeeps,\u201d like a chorus of spoken curses.
\nBut my husband\u2014soaked in beeps\u2014remained calm.
\nPatiently waiting until the opposite lane was clear, and the car blocking the way had enough space to go where it wanted, he nodded to the woman in thanks.<\/p>\n
I fell for my husband all over again.
\nI had no doubt that he knew the spot where the car \u201cgrowler\u201d was.
\nHe hadn\u2019t forgotten.
\nBut watching his face, I saw that not for a single second was he ready to join that chorus of curses behind him\u2014this time expressed in piercing \u201cbeeps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gentleman, I thought quietly.
\nAnd once again, I loved him.<\/p>\n
Once, I myself had backed up along a narrow street just because the man sitting at the wheel of the car in front of me had the decency not to move back even halfway to create a gap for me to slip through.
\nThere were no cars or obstacles behind him; nothing prevented him from moving back a few inches.
\nBut he stood.
\nDid not budge.
\nAnd had no intention of moving backward.
\nBecause, by the rules, he had priority going forward.<\/p>\n
Couldn\u2019t he reverse? I wondered later.
\nMaybe his \u201cgear stick\u201d was broken?
\nBut everything in his car worked perfectly.
\nOnly the mechanism of gentlemanliness was broken.<\/p>\n
I knew how to reverse.
\nSliding the narrow street back, I glanced at his eyes once more.
\nTriumph glimmered in them.
\nAnd I thought to myself\u2014this was clearly a fail, compared to \u201cgentlemanliness.\u201d
\nBut I didn\u2019t say it to him.<\/p>\n
FINAL:
\nLadies, if you have a gentleman at home, give him a little tap on the cheek \u201cfor nothing.\u201d
\nOr for the fact that THEY exist.
\nThat they didn\u2019t vanish along with the dinosaurs.
\nToday, on the streets, they save the world from total panic.<\/p>\n
V.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-17534","istorija","type-istorija","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istorija\/17534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istorija"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/istorija"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}