Peers and students, my opinions..

[Timothy A. McDaniel]

Pug <pug at pug.net> wrote:
>  I don't think I deserve any of the awards I've gotten so far.

I made a similar comment to Master Robin of Gilwell, who replied to
the effect of "Well, if you went around saying you DID deserve some
award and we DIDN'T think so, we wouldn't listen to you THEN either.".
I'm not entirely comfortable with his words, but he has a point.

>  In the area of service, I don't quite understand what the criteria are
>  for different things.

I dunno either.  I think you just need the proper-colored nimbus, or
you register on the peerage's throbbing antennae, or something.

> This is just what I do cause I like it.

I feel vaguely guilty when I'm thanked for doing stuff I like to do.

>   Do I think any of this is worthy of recognition? Hell no. I'd still be
>  doing the same things without an award system.

Non sequitur.  If you risked your life to save a busload of orphaned
children, I'd say you deserve praise for your honor and service,
*especially* if you didn't care about a reward.

>  Btw, the colors of the belts were taken from the Guiding Hand part 4
>  regarding what to wear. The paragraph in question is:
>
>    There are a few clothing restrictions which you must keep in
>    mind.  Do not wear a PLAIN white, red, yellow, or green
>    belt. These have special meaning in the Society. White belts are
>    reserved for Knights, red belts for Squires, yellow belts for
>    Prot{e'}g{e'}s, and green ones for Apprentices.  In addition, a
>    plain white scarf worn over the shoulder is reserved for Dons,
>    while red ones are reserved fro Cadets. Crowns, tiaras, and
>    metallic headbands are reserved for nobility and should not be
>    worn. With regards to jewelry, PLAIN gold chains are reserved for
>    Knights.
>
>  HL Michael de la Mare doesn't state if this is tradition (or from
>  where), guidelines or law.

That is not what I'd write for newcomers.  White belts for knights are
reserved (but I wouldn't expect an attak from the Sumptuary Police
over it), red belts will cause the assumption that one is a squire but
is not "reserved", and the other two don't have strong associations
IMHO.  I don't know the scope of the "Guiding Hand" -- is it for an
Ansteorran audience or Known-World-wide?  Certainly Ansteorran law
explicitly permits narrow metal circlets, and anyone who kvetched at
what is clearly an attempt to keep a headveil on (even if over some
limit) I think would be out-of-line.  In some kingdoms, *any* plain
chain is reserved for knights; that's the literal reading of the
registration with the College of Arms (which I don't want to get
into).

I should say that it's good of him to warn newcomers off about such
things.  As in art, you shouldn't break the rules until you know full
well what you're doing.  However, I think I would be more careful in
my wording.

-- 
Daniel de Lincoln
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tmcd at crl.com