The death of chivalry? You decide....

A friend suggests:

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This is the city: Atlanta, Georgia. The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Late July, Saturday, 10 a.m. The shoulder of the Interstate, near downtown.

Two cars. One, last year's sport model with a flat tire; the other, a battered 10-year-old econobox.

Two twentysomething women wearing the hot-weather uniform of strappy top/tiny T and short shorts stand in the shade.

A disheveled and sweatsoaked thirtysomething man in jeans and a casual shirt with the tail out struggles to change the tire.

Is it chivalry, or yet another message to women that youth and beauty are the most important things they have to offer?

Is it Southern neighborliness, or reinforcement of sexist stereotypes about female weakness and mechanical ineptitude?

Is it ordinary decency or everything that's wrong with Western civilization in one roadside tableau? 

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