ANST - What is a Peer?

[Michael F. Gunter]

I was going to try to stay out of this. I really was. But when Master
Tadhg, who has been a good friend and is very personable, insults
another good friend of mine and seems to indicate something that is
not true, I have to step in.

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

Okay, I'm one of those people who you could consider to have "tons
of awards".  Guess what. They do mean a lot to me. I worked hard
for those awards (except one that I felt was a joke gone out of control),
and I'm proud of them.

Yep, I'm a Count, I'm a knight, I'm a Baron, I have an Iris, I have Thistles,
and Cranes and Comets and Oaks and on and on. Woo! I admitted it.
So I have awards in a little group that 90% of the world considers a bit
freakish. So does that make me a good person or a bad person?

When I tell my squires and students to ignore the white belt I mean it. I
want it to be a goad but never a true goal. I don't consider them gullible
but I want to put the seed that there is more to this game than a merit
badge. If you can't see that then too bad.

People strive for the goal but all we can do is try to keep them in reality.

> > 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.

I wish you would stop insulting your supporters and friends. It creates a
bad impression of you and then people stop reading your words. That's
a shame because you do say some wonderful stuff.

Or do you care that you may hurt one of your staunchest supporters and
friends?

> > 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.

Now this is insulting to Baroness Alys, Sara, me and the large group that
came forward demanding she be elevated. There was some schtick involved
but we did get  a lot of reccomendations for her elevation. We did the
schtick because Alys would not have wanted us to give her this recognition
because we thought she deserved it. We are her friends. She wanted to
earn it and felt she hadn't. For 8 years she was an intregal factor in keeping
Black Oak Keep afloat. She helped keep people fed with the Black Wolf Tavern
at Steppes Warlord, she served Sara and I with remarkable skill as our
head of entourage. She plans feasts, cooks feasts, runs events, sets up and
tears down. And, please take note of this, she felt she didn't deserve anything

for it. She felt she deserved her comet. Now she's a hypocrite because we
gave her a hat? I would appreciate it if you got real yourself.

And what is wrong with a Baroness, or a Count for that matter, telling people
to pursue the goal but not become enchanted with it? Some people make it
and some people don't. That's life.

> 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.

Okay and a good dose of bitter truth is good for a lot of the pie in the
sky claptrap I sometimes espouse. I get bitter at a bunch of the crap in
the SCA and in stuff that's happened. So?  I can go out and try to instill
the desire to be a hero but let them know the harsh reality of life in the
SCA as well.

So you can sulk and give back all or your awards and hurt your friends'
feelings. Or you can keep the awards, suck it up and try to be an example.
Alys is a damned fine example of a baroness. She still works her buns off
but now wears the pretty shiny hat so that people can see that a baroness
still works. She loves the jewelry but if we hadn't granted her that she would
not work less. As far as your attitude that she would feel differently you
are flat wrong. I think I know her a little more than you.

> 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.

Yep. Got me there. And people do get resentful. Lord knows how many times
I've heard "If so-and -so doesn't get knighted soon he's going to quit."
Yeah, the frustration of pursuing the cookie gets intense. But if it gets to be

too much a person needs a different reality check than what you have offered.
That of being all you can be. Screw the jewelry. Look to the Peers you admire
and learn from those you don't.

Humans are a power grubbing little animal that will always desire better. Look
at the violence there has been over pretty rocks. What is wrong with trying to
instill the higher ideal of going beyond the pretty rocks?  Some get it and
some
don't. But we can only try to reach above ourselves.

I know I've made a mess of this debate, mainly because you do speak some
truth, but I refuse to have the ideals I try to maintain lowered by mere
reality.

> Tadhg

Yours,

Gunthar

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