True Gentlemen

Re “Minding Manners in Moscow,” Dec. 24: Vera Ignatieva commented, “You cannot act like a gentleman when you are dressed like a laborer.” Yes, you can. Being a gentleman is more than dressing properly and knowing what fork to use. It has more to do with attitude and your concern for others. On the buses I have seen working men give up their seats, while businessmen (whom Ignatieva would probably consider gentlemen) did not even look up.

Another example can be seen in James Cameron’s “Titanic,” in Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Jack Dawson. Dawson is not considered a gentleman, but Billy Zane’s character Cal Hockley is. Yet when the ship begins to sink it is Dawson who stays behind to help Hockley fiancee Rose DeWitt Bukater and the other passengers, while Hockley attempts to bribe his way onto a lifeboat and eventually claims to be a lost girl’s only parent to get on one. Being a gentleman has nothing do with dress or wealth, but with being humble and considerate of other people, regardless of social status.

GENARO M. RAMIREZ

Pomona