....Properly understood as a binding oath for these warriors, the medieval Christian knight’s code of personal conduct is nothing less than extraordinary. For a thousand years, there was nothing so deadly as a skilled knight. Though there were plenty of evil and avaricious men who took up the mantle of knighthood, ultimately, a moral culture took hold that counseled personal restraint. Aware of their own power, knights kept that power in check by first serving God. Rather than conquering everything before them, they exercised restraint. Rather than embodying the amoral premise that “might makes right,” they strove to uphold ideal forms of virtue. Then they instructed their young pages and squires in these same principles, so that they, too, would become knights of selflessness, piety, courage, and honor. By subordinating personal will to God’s will, the Middle Ages’ “weapons of mass destruction” led by example. Their model of gentlemanly character taught all men how best to behave......
But we are not a happy people. We are not a brave people. We are not an honorable people willing to fight each day for what is right.
For our society to survive, we must return to God. We must rededicate ourselves to virtue. We must find our inner knights.
