[Ansteorra] Motivations (was: Love and recognition)

[Lori Campbell]

In an ideal world it wouldn't matter what a person's motives are as
long as the jobs that need doing get done, right?  The SCA could be a
truly glorious, mystical, happy place, with everyone working, secure in
the idea that recognition comes to every deserving person in due time. 
No one would ever get hurt by the selfishness we see so often in the
modern world.

But the SCA hasn't succeeded very well in shedding real world values in
favor of that idyllic dream-like existence.  People bring their
impatience, their ambition, their sense of entitlement, etc. into the
society with them.  Those values color their actions and motivations
and even when the end product of their work is good, they didn’t always
get there in a nice, pretty fashion. 

It is sad, but I've seen people willing to seek their own
self-glorification at someone else's expense.  That, in the end, is why
motives matter.  

No, we can’t sit back and figure out what motivates a person to do what
they do, but we can count the bloody bodies they leave behind.  It
becomes “how many people had to be hurt in some way so this person
could get an award?”  Sometimes the answer is “none” and selfish
motivations don’t hurt anyone.  Other times, the body count is high
even when someone has technically done the work required to receive
recognition.  

When a Crown recognizes someone with an award, they are essentially
saying “see what this person did? They set the standard. They are the
example we all strive for.”  Rewarding selfishness breeds more
selfishness and, IMO, that is contrary to the values we really want to
create here in our idyllic society.  The SCA is an attempt to create
something *better* than what we've all experienced "out there," right? 


Baron Malcolm Alberic of Caid wrote a really good article on Awards in
the SCA (http://www.dreiburgen.org/articles/awards.html).  It makes a
clear point that SCA awards are about selflessness, not about things
that are self-serving or self-aggrandizing.   It also makes mention of
our system vs. the “merit badge” system, which was also a topic of
discussion on this list not too long ago.

Kat M.


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