Awards

[Dottie Elliott]

>I was one of those people who when I got my first award (AoA) was
>going to decline it. It was cheapened for me because several others,
>who got the same award in my group at the same time, didn't do hardly
>anything or were SO's of people who did deserve it and the crown
>decided to give the awards as a couple.

This is very unfortunate when this happens.  Just because someone else
hasn't done enough, however, doesn't cheapen your achievements. No one can
take those away from you and you know (and so do your sponsors) that you
are deserving and have helped the society. Sometimes this isn't enough, I
know.

>In the end I got one I didn't think I deserved and am working hard to
>do things that in my eyes someone with that award should do.

Sometimes others recognize in us things we cannot see ourselves.  I, too,
felt undeserving when I became a court baroness less than a year ago. I am
still working on ways to live up to this visible display of the respect and
love that my previous shire members feel for me.

>I still see people get awards that didn't deserve it in my eyes (NOT
>in the group I'm currently with). And I see other's who have gone
>unrecognized for too long. I can't and wouldn't take someone's awards
>away and I can't give awards to those I think deserve it. But I do
>encourage people; and write award recommendations and discuss with
>people who should get X award and why. In this way I have an effect
>on the quality of awards given and to try to see that the things that
>made me bitter in the first place don't happen as much.
>
>Lorraine

Ah ha!  You have figured out what too many can't seem to. If you see
something broken you try to fix it!  We cannot any of us affect the society
as a whole, however, we can have positive effects on our own little areas.
I have always believed it was best to fix problems from within.  I
congratulate you on overcoming the bitterness you felt and working to the
betterment of our society.

Yours,
Baroness Clarissa