[Sca-cooks] Re: who's going to Pennsic/ Harbinger's Bash

[Patrick McKinnion]

on 5/15/02 4:04 PM, Philippa Alderton at phlip_u at yahoo.com wrote:

> Going to forward you something in a moment- it seems
> Chirurgeons in Atlantia can't get awards- anything you
> know about?

    Well, that seems to be the case in many kingdoms, not just Atlantia.
And it's a contributing cause to "Crispy Chirurgeon" syndrome and burnout.
It's not like the majority of Chirurgeons are in it for awards, but when you
can count the number of times the chirurgeons are thanked in court on the
fingers of one hand, it gets pretty discouraging after a while.    (esp.
When, at the closing court of a war, you hear the crown thank everybody
*except* the chirurgeons, even though many of those chirurgeons put in 16-24
hour shifts, as long if not longer than the constables, and spent their free
time on radio "just in case".)

    Which is not to say we don't get unoffical recognision.   There's
several households and food stands at war that comp Chirurgeons the price of
their meals in thanks.   And there's nothing like the wonderful feeling of
having someone come up and thank you for helping their friend/fellow
fighter/child/whatever.    But official recognision seems to lag many times,
and it causes a lot of resentment and eventual burnout in the chirurgeonate
- esp because many of us have near terminal cases of "helium hand" to begin
with.   Unless the fecal material hits the turbine, chirurgeons are almost
traditionally ignored.   And after the dust settles, we're forgotten about
because nobody wants to remember what happened.

    I took time off as a chirurgeon mainly due to the duties of learning to
be a father, (and some nasty politics I wanted to stay the hell out and away
from)   What I didn't realize until afterwards was just how burned out I was
- and how cynical I became on certain subjects as a result.   Which is why I
currently limit my chirurgeoning to friends and family until I feel I'm
ready to wear that red baldric again.

    And sometimes the worse thing is that I still want to serve, still want
to help, still want to make a difference in the SCA.

    (sigh)  Sorry for the off-topic rant, but this hit a nerve that's still
healing.

    - Padraig o Connell (journeyman chirurgeon, Altavia and Calafia, Caid)

"You know your leftovers have been in the fridge too long when they apply
for canton status."
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