ANST - Awards

[Dr Tiomoid of Angle]

--- Trish McCurdy <ladyoftherose at hotmail.com> wrote:

> ***I've always hated the surprise-party, Queen-for-a-Day impulse that
> seems to permeat the awards process. Like a person who comes home to
> a  surprise birthday party when they had something else planned for 
> that evening, it puts people in an awkward position. I've always 
> thought that the notion, distressingly common in the SCA, that 
> "getting good pictures" justifies putting people on the spot that 
> way is rather juvenile.

> I apologize if my explanation offended you, I would never wish to do
> so under any circumstances.

Oh, I wasn't offended, and I hope you didn't take it as a personal
criticism, but it did trigger remembrance of another of my pet peeves
(of which I have quite an impressive menagerie), and I wanted to vent
about that a little. I do see many people in the SCA looking at things
from the viewpoint of what makes them feel best rather than what's best
for the prospective award recipient. I guess I still remember getting
ugly sweaters from my aunts when I was little and having to wear them
and pretend they were JUST what I'd always wanted....

> I used that anaolgy because it was a brighter way of illustrating
> that some people like suprises.

Well, some people certainly do, and some certainly don't; what I
disapprove of is the assumption (that many people make, not necessarily
you) that everybody likes surprises because they themselves do.
Fortunately I've been around long enough that a sufficient number of
people know I DON'T like surprises that they can shortstop the
well-meaning souls who might try it; but not everyone has my, um, high
profile. 

When I received my peerage, oh, five years ago, the Crown very wisely
had a trusted friend approach me about it first, because there was a
better-than-even chance that, had they tried to "surprise" me with it
in open Court, there was a better-than-even chance I'd have turned it
down -- which would have been needlessly embarrassing for a number of
people. (Not me, of course; I'm easily annoyed but impossible to
embarrass.) But it would have caused unnecessary distress.

> I have always had concerns about people leaving because they felt
> they weren't recognized or cared for.

Indeed, I've done it myself.

> I myself, have been through a tremendous amount of experiences in 
> the SCA, things that I would never, ever, ever wish on anyone else.  
> However, I made the decision a long time ago to either keep 
> my heart light, or retire myself to my gardening.

I've made that decision over a dozen times in the last 25 years, but I
keep getting sucked back in. I guess it's just a character flaw.

> If you wish to talk about it more, perhaps we can do so at the
> retreat, and we can come to understand how we each came to our own 
> feelings through experience on the subject?

I look forward to it.


Fra Tadhg Liath OFT
The Grumpiest Pelican
SCITIS IMPLETI * NOSCE IGNOTIS

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