[Northkeep] Sigh...
Kevinkeary at aol.com
Kevinkeary at aol.com
Tue May 26 23:26:41 PDT 2009
I have held my tongue until now as my baron -- and more importantly my Anda
who has a job to do that I don't like making unnecessarily hard -- has
asked. I apologize in advance for momentarily not following the letter of that
instruction. I hope to hold to its spirit. I have little to say that
hasn't been said, but I am extremely unhappy with HOW some of it has been said.
I have heard some rather nasty and undeserved things said about and to
this barony we have built and some of the people in it. I won't join in that.
I WILL remind you of WHY I won't.
The things said of Northkeep might have been deserved once, when we were
Nord aus das Strom -- North out of the Storm. We saw the Storm far to our
south; too many of us thought that was how the game was supposed to be played;
we sniped and feuded and called ourselves Nordliche Sturm, the Northern
Storm, and we brought the Storm to us and down on us. We learned.
Northkeepers are human, and humans make mistakes, but the Storm is no part of the
heart of Northkeep -- we don't play that way. We are BETTER than that.
We don't belittle our fellows for their feelings. We try to understand, and
we try to show them -- respectfully -- where they're wrong when they are,
in our opinion -- and we remember the difference between facts and opinion.
We don't accuse each other based on appearances or innuendo; we ask
politely for explanation and we LISTEN to the answer. We give and earn respect.
We don't shunt our responsibilities off on others; we don't EXPECT our
fellows to make up for our lack of responsibility, but we DO give assistance
freely, and accept it gratefully and not like we are entitled to it. We give
and earn trust.
We don't shut down contrary opinions, but we DO insist on those opinions
being expressed constructively. We eschew divisive, caustic commentary and
sarcasm. We remember we are among friends and family. We give and earn
fellowship.
We show pride and support when our fellows receive recognition. We know and
accept that it reflects honor on ALL of us, and we remember that we are
here to have and create fun, and maybe learn and improve ourselves in the
bargain, not advance ourselves as measured against anyone else, much less at
the expense of anyone else. We help each other toward our goals. We give and
earn glory.
And when we stumble, when we fall short of that, of what we are trying to
make Northkeep be, when we are reminded of the ideals we espouse and try to
embody, we stop, take a breath, look at our OWN behavior as measured
against those ideals and not against the behavior of our fellows, and we
apologize and CHANGE. We give and earn and accept correction and growth and
improvement.
And when we DO argue, we do it one on one, in private, not posturing in
front of others that are not even OF Northkeep. Like on this forum. That,
too, is part of respect, for ourselves and for each other and for our guests
who are visiting here.
We've seen where feuding and bickering, backstabbing and conniving,
accusation and innuendo and rumor-mongering and all the rest of the Storm lead.
We are Out Of it. It has no place here.
This is Northkeep.
Kevin
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