[Elfsea] Events --- Then and Now

Gustav Minnesinger synrik at earthlink.net
Fri May 30 11:03:11 PDT 2008


First thing I want to point out is that “In the Good ‘ol Days” . . . . We were all younger, fitter, wilder, less stressed and more Gung Ho about everything that we did.  The air was sweet, the nights were long and a smile was on everyone’s face.

And today, we whine for what we have lost inch by inch . . . . The Parties are cold, the fires are silent and the wines have the taste of dust.

It not just us, but on other lists and other Kingdoms . . . We are getting older.

I have heard over the last year or more (some quiet and others ranting from the roof), “That if the Barony/Kingdom/Autocrat would only do This . . .”, or  “That if the Barony/Kingdom/Autocrat would only promote that . . . “  That this some-how keeps us from having fun or being the social group of misfits partying to the break of dawn that we were in “The Good ‘ld Days”.

Sober up and Get a Pair!!!

The Barony/Kingdom/Autocrat (take your pick) have been doing what they have always been mandated to do for the last 30+ years.  The Baronies are cheerleaders that try to find out the interest of their people.  The Autocrats are organizing it down to the details to make sure that the defined duties are met.  The Kingdom ensure that the frame-work for the game is held in place and things are operated to meet legal, safety and customs.  (Perhaps too condensed, but the thoughts are there).  But we have changed . . . We have gotten older and tired.

What I have seen is the slow decline of activities and formations from our Guilds and Households.  In the ‘Good ‘ld Days’, if your household or guild wanted to do _____, all you had to do was ask the Autocrat for a little space and to be able to announce that you will be doing _____ at the event.  Easy, simple and everyone is happy.  But the Households began to decline and the customary Party/Hafla/Drum-jams began to disappear.  At that point, people began to grip “Where did ____ go?”, “Why did the Barony/Kingdom/Autocrat not allow them to do _____?”  

But it is not their fault . . . It is our’s.

The Great household that used to run and bloom and stomp with pride and laughter across the great lands are now few and far between.  Like the buffalo, we have been pinned in by our own advancement (some of us have become peers, and peers just don’t do ____), by the stress of life that we have failed to leave at home, by worries of money and politics, by the crying of children, by the breaking down of our own bodies and the march of time.

It is sad, but it is the facts as well --- We have failed parts of our own Dream.

And Time marches on . . . . . 

It is not the burden of the Barony/Kingdom/Autocrat to keep us occupied and happy.  It is our own blood, sweat and tears that must be shed to ensure that freedom.  It is calling 3-5 of your friends and saying, “Hey, I was thinking of doing ____ at ______ event.  You want to help ensure that it is so over the top that no one forgets it!!!”  It is getting together and saying, ‘We are now a _____ (Service/Fighting/A&S/Partying) Household.  Let’s see if we can make some noise!!!’

Everyone finds it easier to blame someone else for not being happy, when we should be looking in the mirror, taking a deep breath, and saying that today will be the Day.

Ask not of what can the Barony/Kingdom/Autocrat do for you, But what you can do for the Barony/Kingdom/Autocrat!!!



Gustav Minnesinger

"There are people who say I have never really done anything wrong in my life; of course, they only say it behind my back." ---Oscar Wilde



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