I find myself having to regularly focus on maintaining good posture. It does not come naturally for me – I have to remain conscious of the need to sit and stand up straight. I could use the excuse that my physical height (I am 6’6″ tall) requires more effort to maintain good posture, but that is just an excuse. A Southern gentleman does not make excuses – he does what is right.
Aside from the physical benefits of good posture, the way you carry yourself says a lot about your demeanor and self-respect. Slouching gives the appearance of one who is ashamed of who he is and what he has done; good posture demonstrates the opposite. If we were speaking in Biblical terms, then we would all be crawling on the ground in our sinful shame, but we are talking here about our actions in the world. Standing erect and straight makes a man look confident, in control, and in command of the situation. When you first enter a room full of people, they make an instant first impression of you that will carry over into all dealings with you. Make that first impression a good one by consciously checking your posture and making sure you stand straight and tall.
As a Southern gentleman, you are an ambassador of The South. Once people know that you are a Southern gentleman – and they certainly should know that – their impression of you affects their impression of Southern culture and heritage. It is the duty of every Southern gentleman to do his best to make sure that impression is a good one. That is the goal of an ambassador.
-By Stephen Clay McGehee and originally published at Be A Southern Gentleman
O I’m a good old rebel, now that’s just what I am. For this “fair land of freedom” I do not care at all. I’m glad I fit against it, I only wish we’d won, And I don’t want no pardon for anything I done.
Funny: Two of my nephews (who are both in their mid-thirties) and I had this very conversation at our family’s little Independence Day get together on the 4th. I mentioned their good posture, which led into a humorous conversation about how physically taxing it is on the body to maintain good posture throughout the day. Each of us then struck, in his own turn, our best impressions of the “very poor” posture shown in the examples in your post, lamenting that no matter how hard we tried we could never hold that posture for very long and were therefore relegated to constant fatigue as a result. lol. One other thing I told them is that I only allow for one exception to the rule, and that is being conscious enough of your surroundings in Clown World to know when good posture is going to bring unwanted attention from aggressive females on the prowl. Otherwise I would just point out that the mediocrity Nazis (for lack of a better term) out there will accuse you of being “the next Hitler” or whatever for giving this sage advice. After all, Hitler had very good posture anytime he was seen in public, and carried himself with a great deal of confidence. As with you and me, he was of course very aware and conscious of the importance of the impression he was giving off thereby. But that is of course not your problem; they’re going to say those things about you regardless, as they do me. Water off a duck’s back.
From an early age I was involved in military related things and one of the first things impressed upon me was good posture. Back straight, head high, chest out. This all was important for when you were ruck marching. A good posture allowed one to distribute and maintain a heavy weight for longer periods of time without fatigue. There’s a lesson and reason behind everything if one is willing to look beyond the surface but alas that’s traditionalism for you right? Nice read, we need to be proud of who we are and not brow beaten.