will the real gentlemen please stand up

i attended a small gathering a few months ago, & incidentally by the time i got there there were no seats left. this meeting was about an hour long & i ended up standing the entire time. as i glanced over at the crowd of people, of course at least half of them were men. a few of them looked sheepishly over & saw myself & a few other ladies standing up, but i suppose were contented to think 'well they should have come earlier if they wanted a chair.' in fact i wasn't even going to attend, i just had to because i was supposed to see the main speaker afterwards, i had hoped to come at the end of the meeting. but as things happened i ended up attending throughout, which is fine because i could listen to this particular speaker for hours. anyway, i suppose i was a bit put off by the whole thing, but i brushed it off eventually as being that it's a dog eat dog world & common courtesy is a thing of the past. i was raised with fairly old-fashioned morals such as courtship, gentlemen, & hospitality; & the fact that good ol' manners just seem to be relics from a bygone era sometimes disappoints me. in fact these days it just seems like women have to be stronger & tougher to even survive out there.
however, last night i attended a seminar of a slightly bigger capacity & while i arrived early, i was waiting outside for the rest of my party to arrive & booking seats was not permitted. as a result by the time they all came, there was barely room to stand. but, i waded through the people & found a vacant spot in which to activate my varicose veins.
there was a man beside me who seemed very polite & kind. and when one of the organizers came & asked how many chairs he still needed to seat everyone who came with him, he said 'we need chairs for everyone standing'. like, he wasn't gonna sit till everyone else in the room had a seat. this event was 3 hours long, & i dreaded the stand ahead of me. after about 1/2 an hour though, a group of men got up & brought in a row of chairs for all the ladies standing to sit on. wow! this was pretty powerful stuff. and the gentleman next to me said 'well there you go. you may have a seat now' he however had to remain standing.
i went to check on my child after about an hour & when i came back my seat was taken. so i stood once again. the man directly beside me who obviously came early & was seated next to his wife instantly lept up & said: 'please sit here'. i tried to decline, but he insisted & proceeded to stand. incredible.
i suddenly felt so small. & almost unworthy of the men i was surrounded by. i felt like i was in the presence of greatness. this was a little man, and while not rich, famous, or adorned with a golden crown - the man inside was a true great in my books. & sometimes, that's what greatness really is. just having the integrity to give a lady your seat.