Prowess and various topics (was: Re: Prowess- Is that all??)

Matthew R. Popalisky mpopali at comp.uark.edu
Fri Dec 13 08:22:59 PST 1996



On Fri, 13 Dec 1996, Lenny Zimmermann wrote:

> On Thu, 12 Dec 1996 22:04:22 -0800, Viscount Galen wrote:
> 
> [Knightly virtues snipped for brevity]
> 
> >1.  No one who knows me would expect me to place winning above honor.  If 
> >someone told me of a fighter who never lost, I would interpret that as a 
> >fighter who never called blows.  But if you're not on the field trying to
> >win, there's no point.  Why defend, if survival isn't important?  Why strike,
> >if not to slay?  I agree with Sheridan, that making fighting a game, or
> >worse, a _sport_, makes it something in which honor and chivalry become
> >secondary.
> 
> Perhaps in your opinion, Sir, but I would have to disagree on the
> issue of a "sport" being something where we cannot show honor and
> chivalry. What we do IS a sport. What I envision I am doing as a
> persona on that tournament field is also a sport, just as a tournament
> would be seen in period.

Let me hazard the idea here that what Lyonel was reaching for was
fighting reduced to an exercise that one could forget the code, et al, and
just play to win, and only to win.  Sometimes we lose sight that it is an
honor to *try*.  Winning is fun, yes, but it is more important to improve,
be it learning to be a more able, more chivilrous fighter, or as "simple"
as learning to play our game so that everyone has a good time.

Kateryn
Grimfells




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