Back Issue - Is Chivalry Dead?

The topic of chivalry came up in class today in Insurance (of all places, eh?). Our instructor was telling a story of when she got into a car accident with a "young whipper-snapper" and chose not to get out of the car because he was yelling at her from outside the car door. An older, German man, who had seen the whole incident, came to her "rescue" (it's not that she didn't want to confront the young guy - she just decided to wait until he was done yelling) by getting into it with him. When the whipper-snapper left, she got out of the car and the German guy said to her (in a thick German accent), "We men need to take care of our women!"
Our whole class laughed but that got me wondering: is chivalry actually dead or is it alive and well in a more modernized form? Can chivalric acts even be modernized?
Here is my top five list of my favourite chivalric acts that boyfriends, dates or guy friends have done for me (and we're talking beyond holding the door open here):
1) Helps me on with my coat. I was at a Hallowe'en party at Cecil Green and the coats were all just on coatracks in the front. I was with a bunch of people and one of the guys went to get our coats (we all had just put our coats on one hanger) and he put his on and then held mine open for me and helped me into it. This had to be on the top of my list, even though it was a friend that did it. It's just one of those gestures that you don't really expect nowadays - at least, I didn't expect it. It was romantic but very simple. Nice.
2) Carries my shopping bags at the mall. This act wasn't even done by a friend of mine. I was shopping with my one of my best guy friends and he brought his best friend along. As the day went on and purchases were made, the friend of the friend insisted on carrying all my bags for me and I think that may have been the second or third time we met.
3) Walks me to my car. To follow up with #2, the FOTF insisted that he and my best guy friend walk me to my car, even though they were parked on the other side of the mall. My best friend didn't think that walking me to my car was an option. Whenever I went over to my now ex-boyfriend's house, he never walked me to my car and I never thought much of it because he would always stand at the door and wait until he heard my car door close (That's right, there were big, tall trees that obscured the vision from the front door of his house to the street where I was parked. For all he knew, the thump of the car door was my head bashing against it as some crazy psycho kidnapped me. But I digress...). I talked about this once to another guy friend of mine, who thought this was really funny. Apparently, this is a big issue with women and he's learned to just humour his dates and, at the very least, doesn't shut the door the minute she turns around to walk away. Good to know.
4) If he gives me a gift, it's something he actually thought about instead of just bought. Is this chivalrous or just thoughtful? Anyway, a guy I dated briefly a few years ago, on our first date, came to pick me up and handed me a CD of songs he had made for me and thought I would like. Although I had never heard any of the songs before, he had determined from our previous conversations what kind of music I liked and then made a CD to suit. It's not even the fact that he made it; it's the fact that, not only remembering things that I told him when we talked but he was putting it into context. THAT is thoughtful.
5) Kiss my hand. I'm a sucker for this one. I've only known two or three guys that could expertly kiss a woman's hand without it being cheesy or contrived. I was at the pub one night with a bunch of friends from work. One of the Rico Suave hand-kissers I speak of was part of the group this particular night. As he got up to leave, he deftly picked up my hand from the table, kissed it and glided away without so much as a hesitation. He's in his 50s, if that makes any difference. That same night, another one of our group - a guy that is the same age as me but awkward with ...well, people in general but I think it's just because he's shy - was saying his goodbyes. He offered his hand to me so I shook it and then he hesitantly brought it up about halfway to kiss it, but then he decided that maybe he shouldn't but then he halfway through that decision decided to and then he finally kissed my hand but it was really, really weird.
I guess the problem with chivalry is that you have to be careful about who you extend them to. Some women may love it when you pull their chair out for them (that's #6 for me); others hate it. I think it's weird when a server lays your napkin on your lap for you but that's just me. I wouldn't like it if a guy ordered my dinner for me - don't tell me what to eat! (Brings back memories of the movie "Secretary"...mmm, all the ice-cream I can eat!) I usually hold the door open for people, male or female, if I see that they need help (armload of books, children, etc.). And as for the situation my instructor was in with the young whipper-snapper and the old, German guy? Call me old-fashioned, romantic and a fool but I think it was kind of sweet that the old guy wanted to "protect the woman". I guess that's why when my boss came back from England with presents for all of the support staff, three of them got a little dangly sheep and I got a knight in shining armour...