Knight in a Not-So-Shining Armor

I wouldn’t say fairytales are completely lies. Yes, the part where all the princesses are always nice and pretty is a myth, of course. The scene where the evil witch is old and hideous is absolutely horrendous too (in real life, they can actually look like Megan Fox). But the part where the knight comes in and rescues the girl… well that’s absurd too, but I’ll have to say the concept is not too far off.

I saw an episode of Desperate Housewives and Susan Mayer said that “It is in a woman’s DNA to fall in love with guys who rescue us”. And she’s right. Women love being rescued. I learned this from my Mother, my sister, my girlfriends, and myself. Being ‘saved’, however, means differently to different people. A girl from a poor background feels ‘saved’ by a man with financial security. A girl from a broken family feels ‘saved’ by a man with emotional stability. A girl who’s just drifting about feels ‘saved’ by finding a man who has his feet firmly on the ground.

We all want to be saved in a number of different ways. I had a friend who came from a broken home, went through a rough childhood and grew up to become a resentful woman. One day she met a guy who had the same difficult upbringing, and through time she said he saved her. You see, being rescued does not necessarily have to be done by a superior hero with the power to fix everything. In fact, it is a common mistake we girls like to make, so says my Mother.

I noticed the truth of this as I went through the motions myself. Being saved can be as simple as meeting someone who seems to be figuring out things too, as you are. The knowledge of someone else who is in your shoes can sometimes feel like a great rescue. It signals that I am not alone in wandering about things and not always knowing what I’m doing. And being shown that you are not alone in this big scary world – is perhaps the most heroic gesture anyone can do. And it certainly beats the whole here-I-am-on-a-horse-with-a-giant-sword thing. That’s just too old school for me.