[Elfsea] Events --- Then and Now

[Gustav Minnesinger]

Not so much that WE have created the bureaucracy . . . But WE have forgotten how to dance, to laugh, to play.

We all have to get older . . . . But it seems that too many of us have grown up to the point of forgetting what is was to be one of the ‘Lost Boys’ fighting and loving in the Fields of Dreams.

I have to get older year by year . . . But I refuse to grow up.

To Love and Laugh’
To drink deep of the wines of Life,
To have died in the arms of Friends.

-----Original Message-----
>From: pcrandal at sbcglobal.net
>Sent: May 30, 2008 1:09 PM
>To: Barony of Elfsea <elfsea at lists.ansteorra.org>
>Subject: Re: [Elfsea] Events --- Then and Now
>
>Hey Gustav, 
>I think what you are saying is that WE ARE the
>The Barony/Kingdom/Autocrat (take your pick). 
>And WE created that bureaucracy. Ruled by desks. 
>WE need to be ruled by hearts and minds. 
>
>Crandall, Olde Phart 
>
>--- Gustav Minnesinger <synrik at earthlink.net>
>wrote:
>
>> 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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>>
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>
>
>"In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should 
>afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, 
>contentedly, even happily wrong." 
>-John Kenneth Galbraith 
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"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