SR - A Question Concerni

[Martin, Brian]

>                       RE>SR - A Question Concerning Principality
> 6/23/98
> 
> Well,  I `ll take a stab at this question. 
> 
> First, I would like to say that I didn't know that we needed a reason
> NOT to
> change things.  I didn't realize that "We like it the way it is" isn't
> good
> enough.  Of course being the Aggie that I am, I tend to think that "If
> you
> have something great already, you shouldn't change it."
> 
	[Martin, Brian]  
	Thanks for the response. You know how you felt when you were a
kid and your parents said no to something, and when you asked why, they
said, "because"? Well, that's kind of the way that I feel when I hear
"we like things the way that they are" in response to the principality
question. I'm left wondering why folks feel that way and would like to
know the people's motivations. Please understand that if I didn't think
that there were valid, intelligent reasons of people's positions, I
wouldn't be curious. 

> But, if you need a reason not to become a principality, I can give you
> a
> couple off the top of my head.
> 
> 1) I don't want to be part of a principality of people who only want
> play with
> themselves and no one else.  (I can tell you that people from both the
> Coastal
> and Northern Regions believe that Austin and San Antonio people only
> play with
> their local groups.  Now, I know that this is a generalization, but it
> still
> seems pretty true when Stargate gets more knights to attend the
> Southern
> Regional Fighter practice than the Southern Region.  Having also been
> autocrat
> of some events in this region, I can say that in general, if you plan
> an
> event, you can count on your local people and then kingdomwide people
> to
> attend, but you really can't count on the rest of the region to bother
> to show
> up and support you.)
	[Martin, Brian]  

	Hmm, one must be careful when discussing the group's desires to
play with themselves. :) Sorry, bad joke.
	I certainly agree that Bryn Gwlad and Bjornsborg are perceived
as being too insular. I know that in the past, Bryn Gwlad didn't travel
much. However, this has been changing a great deal in the last year. If
you think about it, Bryn Gwlad has been well represented in Raven's
Fort, Shadowlands, Steppes, Bonwicke, Stargate, Loch Solleir and other
groups in the last year. Of course, perception doesn't change over night
and it will take some time for us to get over that. Yet another good
reason for not rushing into things.

> 2) I don't want to be part of a principality of people who want to
> break up
> this great kingdom just so that they can have "spiffy-er titles".  
	[Martin, Brian]  
	Sorry, but this reason is pure speculation. To the best of my
knowledge, we're not talking about breaking up the kingdom and I don't
know of anyone who is in favor of it so they can have "spiffy-er
titles". I think that we should give each other more credit than that. 

> 3) I don't want to be part of a principality that isn't even taking
> care of it
> own people.  I lived in the Shadowlands for 5 1/2 years  (during which
> time
> there was not one single peer living there) and I was seneschal there
> for a
> time.  And I didn't see the southern region making any effort to help
> us out. 
> Now I will allow that there are a few individuals from this region
> that did
> come on occasion to help us,  but we got as much (if not more) support
> from
> Stargate than we ever got from the entire Southern region combined. I
> can't
> believe that you think that as a principality you can take care of
> your
> smaller groups when you can `t even do it now.  If you form a
> principality -
> do you really think Baronys outside of the Principality are still
> going to
> want to help the little groups?
	[Martin, Brian]  
	I think that this ties into reason #1 and our efforts to get out
and travel more. But I also think that it is indicative of the type of
apathy that some of the groups seemed to be experiencing not long ago. I
don't think that the small groups were being ignored out of spite or
anything. All groups go through lulls and periods of growth. I think
that this area was in  a lull for a while and is now experiencing a
period of growth and excitement. I think that it is because of this
growth and excitement that we are seeing a renewed interest in a
principality. However, as posts such as Crystal's have shown, we can't
get ahead of ourselves. We need to work together and support one another
and create a feeling of unity and identity. 

> Crystal
	[Martin, Brian]  
	Thanks for the heartfelt response, Crystal.

	-Pendaran

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