[Northkeep] Who I am

[a a]

Yesterday I read the apology message here and my first thought was of Shakespeare's lines about "the quality of mercy." I thought of sending a reply with those lines but my thoughts led me off on a tangent.I got to thinking about who I am and what the SCA is about.I'd never read those lines all the way through before and I was struck by the beauty of them,both the words themselves and the rhythm of the lines:

PORTIA 
The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.

I got to thinking;one of the things that defines me is that I appreciate beauty.Not to be too pretentious but I think I have in me a sensitivity and an appreciation of grace{which is not the same thing as saying that I always act with sensitivity or grace}I was thinking about how I enjoy a lot of Shakespeare and I was tracking down a song I'd heard:after some searching on the net I found out that the song is titled "Nowhere Warm" and I listened to it several times on youtube.Now this all created a mood in me that had me thinking about things that mean a lot to me and I got to thinking about the SCA.It struck me that people who enjoy the SCA are likely to be dissatisfied with mundane life.Now,I've known many people in the SCA who were quite successful in the mundane world but I think most of us find the mundane world,well,mundane.At least,it's true in my case and if I don't always enjoy the SCA it's because it too often gets too much like the mundane
 world.

 There are some words that I think about a lot;I don't DO much about them but I think about them.One is "class." That's class in the sense of "that lady has CLASS." I'm talking about something that you might be more likely to have if you're born with a lot of money but you can still have even if you're born in poverty.There's another word I like,a Spanish word:GRACIA;it means something like our word grace but it's a bit different.It means a sense of humor,too,but it refers to a gentle sense of humor that smiles at the craziness of life not a cruel sense of humor.

Now all this rambling is sort of meant to start a discussion about "the dream" what it is,who we are,why we do what we do.I hope someone has found this somewhat stimulating.
                                                      Edward