ANST - What is a Peer?

Dr Tiomoid M. of Angle tiomoid at yahoo.com
Fri Oct 15 14:20:50 PDT 1999


--- "Weiszbrod, Barbara A (Barbara)" <baw2 at lucent.com> wrote:

> > > Quit worrying about awards...
> > 
> > Advice you'll hear only from people who already have tons of
> > awards. The gullible are their natural prey.

> Although most of what Master Tidhg has said is harsh truth, I have to
> disagree on this statement.

Says the Court Baroness. You're just proving my point.

> Until this year I have been one of the least 
> awarded-long-time-members in this area.  After thirteen years of
> playing, eleven of them here, I had two Thistles and a Sable Comet.
> Both are AOA level awards.

And I don't recall ever having heard you push this particular argument
prior to last Coronation. I'd feel more persuaded if I could.

> I don't think that you can label me as
> "people who already have tons of awards", yet I have fought for the
> ideal of not worrying about the awards.

I'll be happy to amend my statement to "people who have already
achieved high rank" in place of "people who already have tons of
awards", if it makes you feel any better. It doesn't affect my
underlying point.

> I truly believe that
> once you start worrying about the award you are not only forgetting
> why you started to play, but leading yourself into a bitterness that
> NO award will ever remove.

You got THAT right. If Vashti had received the Laurel that she so
richly deserved before she died, I'd still be bitter. Hell, if they
made me Emperor of the Known World tomorrow morning, I'd still be
bitter. And there's nothing you could say that would alleviate that.

But *I* truly believe that there doesn't breathe a single person in the
SCA who can successfully "quit worrying about awards", popular
mythology to the contrary notwithstanding -- and peers can be among the
worst award-grubbers around -- so this constant din to do so is a waste
of time, and merely engenders cynicism in the hearts of those who hear
the mythology and see the reality.


Tadhg
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