SC - earning awards

[Philip & Susan Troy]

"R. Del Boccio" wrote:
> 
> Greetings Balthazar and list,
> I do not know the people in question regarding fighting.  I
> can speak only to myself and people I know who have
> disabilities.  I do recall reading that some of the fighters
> with disabilities got their rank/awards long after their
> disabilities.  I know that for me, I received a Kingdom
> level arts award primarily for my singing, and I certainly
> did not have any impression that I received it because of
> some feeling of "oh look, there's a blind person, let's give
> her an award."  I was in the Society quite awhile before
> getting an AoA (lots of people thought I already had one).
> I am a bit dumbfounded that the merit of an award recipient
> should be questioned simply because he or she has a
> disability.  I know you said you meant no disrespect, but
> it's like saying you wonder if someone with black hair
> really deserved their rank or award, or maybe was pitied
> because their hair wasn't the more respectable blond.  You
> may not have thought about it in that way before.  Black
> hair certainly does not require compensation as does a
> disability, but our disabilities are just a part of us like
> hair or eye color, or body type is.  At least one fifth of
> the population has some sort of disability, visible or
> hidden.  There are also plenty of people who struggle with
> their skills because of fatigue or asthma or less obvious
> conditions.
> 
> I do not mean my comments as a slam at all, so I hope
> neither you nor anyone else will perceive it so.

I think I can understand Balthazar's question, although I am not much of
an active fighter myself, and not especially handicapped in any
recognizable way unless you count a famously limited intellect. I know
I've been asked, on occasion, to respond to various Orders' polling
letters (they do that in the East) for candidates that are deceased, so
that an award would be given posthumously. Ultimately I have to wonder
if the candidate would even be under consideration had they been alive,
and occasionally I would say to myself something famously uncharitable
like, "If this person didn't deserve this award alive, why do they
deserve it dead?" Sometimes the person did deserve, in my opinion, the
award in life, but I then have to ask if it makes much difference at
this point.

I suppose the ultimate point is that we can't _really_ know how hard
such a physically challenged person worked, what they had to overcome,
and what represents to them a huge victory over unlucky circumstance.
Bearing that in mind, along with the fact that often awards are given to
those without such physical challenges, who sometimes seem not to
deserve them, it's probably not something to worry overmuch about. If
the Crown wants to do it, and people want to cheer, and more
importantly, be inspired by it, then so be it. And if everybody knows it
is undeserved, they have a way of letting that show, and it ends up
being as if the award never happened. 

I can't think of a better way to remind ourselves that this is a game
we're playing, and that there's room for a wide interpretation of the
rules. 

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com