Award timing
Christopher Walden
cmwalden at bga.com
Wed Jan 31 04:27:04 PST 1996
> From: litch at eden.com (R.Michael Litchfield)
>The argument that making the awards "too easy" will devalue them is utterly
> rediculous, the awards are worth NOTHING. They are at best a form of
> recognition, at worst they are a political football.
OK, Michael. I'll play.
The awards have the potential to be worthless. It depends largely
upon the character of the granter of the award and the recipiant.
I'll grant you that our awards won't give you a special tax status or
a lunch discount at Denny's, but I think they will show you people
who are dedicated to the current and long-term trend of "Society"
goals.
Ah, there's the rub! My tastes tend more toward authenticity, so I
am more impressed by a person who has received an award for "doing it
right" than someone who has done "good enough." Since I am not King,
I do not appreciate the extraordinary effort that someone who
received a service award for supporting the crown during their
reign. I appreciate more someone like Tivar who creates Rapier
Combat for me to use. I don't think this invalidates the other
awards, though.
I agree with you that sometimes the people with the power to grant
awards tend to treat them lightly. When they do that, they devalue
the award held by everyone else, and it becomes worth less. I've
also seen people who get an award forget that they have some
responsibilities along with that who basically stop doing everything
that they did to make them deserve the award. People see these
people and can't understand why they are awarded and don't get to
hear the "back then" stories.
But I do think the awards are worth something, just as I think our
King and Queen and Societal heirarchy are worth something. They
provide a structure and rules for what we do. They shape our group
into something that gives us a taste of the spirit of Renaissance and
Medieval Society. That spirit sets us apart from other groups who
share a common interest, such as gaming clubs. Aside from a few
noisy aberations, most of the Society takes their honor seriously. I
think most take their awards seriously, too.
Antonio
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