Becoming a Peer

[KiheBard at aol.com]

  Gunnora Hallakarva,  Herskerinde, followed my words with fitting words of
her own.  Go seek hers out in their entirety, they are well worth the time it
takes to read and then ponder upon their meaning. Then, if you will, please
return and allow me to address a few points... 

back so soon? Well, I'd better continue then, hadn't I?

Mistress Gunnora, I must apologize if my discussion seemed in any way to be
whining or somehow seeking a station I have not earned (and am most likely
unprepared for in any event). You are not the first to have pointed out that
there are individuals who have been accorded the rank of Peer without having
served as a "formal student" of whatever Circle, and I was able to add to
that list as well.  My point in that regard was that there is a current
*impression* that non-squires & non-apprentices (and to a far lesser extent
non-proteges) in Ansteorra may not be receiving the same consideration that
squires and apprentices would.  That is a matter for deliberation within the
Circles, but I do thank you for affirmation that it is not the case with the
Ansteorran Laurels.

In a message dated 97-03-03 01:17:40 EST, you write:
> OK, what ARE the good things about being a peer of any stripe?  Hmmm.  
> Does being a Laurel get you more money on your tax return?  
> Does being a Knight cause you to accrue more seniority at work?  
> Does being a Pelican make your mortgage payments any lower?  
> Smell the coffee... there are no real world benefits to peerage.  

Errr... I respectfully submit that leadership and interpersonal skills gained
in deliberations of the various Circles may have some benefit for at least a
few.

The general point I concede, with the primary exception of artists / artisans
whose real-world income is derived from their art and whose recognition in
the SCA led them to pursue their skills further than they might have
otherwise.
  
>  OK, how about SCA benefits... 
[reluctant ge-snip]
> Do people respect you more?  No.  If you were worthy of respect 
> before you got the peerage, you will have respect afterwards, but if
>  you are a jerk no one will respect you no matter whether you have all
three
>  peerages and forty-two brass hats.  

Gunnora, on this point I must respectfully continue to disagree -- at the
least up to a point.  The belt, baldric, crownlet, or whatever - and far more
importantly the titles behind those symbols - *do* gain more respect for an
individual, at least until their actions might prove otherwise.  Why have so
many individuals over the years tried to claim Peerages (or as far as I am
aware even impersonate known Peers) if there was not such an automatic
respect for the title and station?

We are all aware of Peers-without-Circles in the Society, individuals who for
one reason or another have never been offered, have declined, or have
deliberately resigned a Peerage for reasons which are personal and have
meaning for themselves. All these are known after the passage of time almost
exclusively within their own Kingdoms, although a few have passed into the
status of "Society legend" with the telling of tales & singing of songs.
 Were any of these to travel to a land which did not know of their history in
the SCA, what would their reception be today?  

Some of those who bear no lofty title will be received well wherever they
travel, on the basis of their reputation and prior visibility in forums such
as this one where we now trade words.  Others, possibly even of higher
station, might even be less well received until their credentials have been
verified: the Society has learnt more cynicism and defensiveness as it has
grown.

Such is the way of the Known World as I have experienced it.

[more reluctant snippage]
>  I guess that I don't understand those who pant after any award for 
> years and then get bitter because they don't have it.  Don't get me 
> wrong, it is EXCELLENT to ASPIRE to an award... if what you are 
> wishing for is for is to gain the skills that would enable you to be 
> worthy of the award.  

I agree with your point as to aspirations. However, I fear that I do
understand too well those who "pant after" high awards and become bitter.  It
is my observation that generally they become bitter because they were led to
believe (by whatever twists of fate, logic, and half-truths) that the highest
awards would not come to those who did not actively seek them. Even when
faced with evidence to the contrary, they are suckled upon tales of division
into factions within the Circles. Then, when they and their supportive
cliques feel that one of their own has been passed over for some imagined
slight OR they are provided with shreds of evidence that one meeting of a
Circle *has* done such&so (<sarcasm mode ON> and it simply *must* be true,
because Who-much didn't receive a WhatSit for a whole YEAR after that meeting
<sarcasm OFF>), the whole morass becomes deeper and wider.

(The preceding paragraph is probably more bitter in tone than it needs be.
Please, PLEASE forgive if my intense dislike of the gossip process peeked
through in my description.)

> I think
>  every single person in this Kingdom should ASPIRE to one day be a Lion of
>  Ansteorra, to become exemplars of what the SCA is all about.  But I think
a
>  true Lion would never worry about getting the award though, because if 
> they ARE a Lion, they are out there playing the game and having fun. 

This is indeed one of my long-term aspirations. One which I do not believe I
will ever be ready for, actually: I'm too much a creature of the modern world
and too much the dilettante / occasional player. I will naetheless keep
trying, and be all the happier to see others of my acquaintance advanced to
that title as their lives and the Crown's vision allows.

I ask forgiveness in advance for re-blocking the following statement:
  
>  That's the bottom line.  
> ARE YOU HAVING FUN?  
> If you are, no award or lack thereof is going to make you have 
> more fun.  It is nothing more than a kudo
>  from your friends that hey, you're doing neat things.  If you are not
>  enjoying the SCA because you aren't getting an award, you should 
> quit ... [more of that persnickety snippage]
>  But if the SCA is fun to you, if you have a good time at events, get misty
>  eyed over the singing at campfires, feel the rush of adrenaline as the
>  bagpipes skirl up behind the shield wall you're standing in, look forward
to
>  the camraderie and friendship you find within the SCA, then YOU DO 
> NOT NEED AWARDS.  You already have the best the SCA can offer.
  
I agree whole-heartedly. 

When I sing my songs, tell my tales, participate in the joys and sorrows and
hopes of others; when I share in the labors of putting together a good event
or laze about in enjoying an event being run by others; whenever I sell a
good knife to a man or woman who will take care of it, or buy other goods
from other merchants and worry not about their quality; in doing all these
things and more, I know that I have the joy of experiencing the best that
there is to be had in the way of a taste of the ancient world in our modern
one.

Gunnora, thank you for your patience and care in explanation. No doubt I have
heard best that which I already knew and agreed with, but as always you have
said all that you had to say with skill, and grace, and the power to make any
part with which I might not have agreed fully still set well.

al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra
	currently residing in Barony of the Steppes, Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mike C. Baker					KiheBard at aol.com
Any opinions expressed are obviously my own unless explicitly stated
otherwise!