chivalry

[dennis grace]

Greetings, Cosyns and Good Health Unto You All,

A good cosyn in Caid received (by strange and virtual ways) my rant upon the
recent to-do in the Ring of the Boxe.  With Sir William's permission (which
I have received) I wished to share this gem with you all.

>Date: Tue, 1 Jul 1997 07:55:29 -0700 (PDT)
>X-Sender: shipley at sure.net
>To: amazing at mail.utexas.edu
>From: William Shipley <shipley at sure.net>
>Subject: chivalry
>
>Dear Dennis:
>
>I pulled your email address off of the post you made to the Ansteorran list
>which passed through the Aten list on it's way to the Caiden list.  I noted
>a tone of discouragement that I wanted to respond to.
>
>In the SCA, we DO honor chivalry and honor.  Because we are imperfect, we
>often fall short of our ideals.  But this is a lot different than not having
>those ideals.  At our worst, we are still far better than the standards of
>"sportsmanship" displayed in the media.  Try to imagine the results of a
>fighter trying to punch and kick the marshals while being separated from his
>opponent!
>
>I have also seen examples of less-than-ideal chivalry, but I have also seen
>many more shining examples that make me proud to be a participant.  I think
>that the key is to strive for these ideals, honor our fellow participants
>who strive with us and understand that we will be less than complete in our
>success.  The fact that we even try sets us far apart from the standards of
>sportsmanship taught in our schools and parks.  Personally, I think that the
>glass is at least 90% full.
>
>As a father, I am deeply pleased to have been able to bring up my son in the
>SCA.  At 14, he has a personal chivalry and honor that is confounding to his
>classmates.  A couple of years ago, he was showing me his computer game
>where you run around blasting the Nazi's.  When he persuaded me to take my
>turn, a point came when a door opened and there was one of the Nazi's facing
>the other way.  I quickly blasted him.  My son then said, "Dad, you can't
>shoot him in the back, you are a Knight!".  I thought about this a moment
>and then agreed with him.  From then on, I waited for the opponents to turn
>around.  Sometimes we just have to stop and think.
>
>We are less than perfect, but at least we CARE.  Don't stop caring.
>
>Sir William Schuyler
>Caid

Hoping my delight with this letter isn't just a Knight thing or a Dad thing,
je reste

le votre pour vous servir

Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace
_____________________________
Dennis Grace
University of Texas at Austin
English Department
Recovering Medievalist
amazing at mail.utexas.edu

The banana is great, but the skin of the banana is greater still.
                                                        -George Orwell