[Western] Disappointed

[Gavin]

Unto the Western Region do I Baron Gavin Mac Iain send greetings.

 

I want to express my appreciation to those of you in the Western Region that joined me at Three Queens this past weekend to support Britta and the Region.  I would like to especially thank those that came to support our fighters by marshalling and taking such good care of us in camp.  

 

Not too long ago in this Region, if someone put out a call for help we all did our dead level best to come out and help that person - whether it was a local/Regional event or somewhere across the Kingdom.  To my shock and dismay, I awoke Saturday to find only a fraction of the people that I had hoped and expected to see in attendance.

 

We had a wonderful opportunity to prove to the rest of Kingdom that the Western Region is not a joke.  Instead, we have only reinforced their already low opinion of us.  

 

I can still remember a time when we cared enough to help out one of our own.  For the first time since I've been in the SCA I'm beginning to understand why the rest of the Kingdom thinks we're such a joke.  We won't even leave our tiny little corner of the Kingdom in support of someone who is universally loved or respected by the entire Region.  In the brief time that she was our Queen, Britta did a great deal to change the opinion that the Kingdom has of the Western Region.  

 

That work has now been undone.  

 

I understand that mundane responsibilities come first and that is how it should be. However, I know that there are more than the few that showed up that had the time, money, and ability to be there.  You chose not to support this Region.

 

Ever wonder why we don't have more peers in the Region, or that more people from outside the Region don't attend our events?  This is why.  We do not attend events outside the Region.  If we want our fighters, artisans, and service people to be recognized for their abilities, we have to get them out of the region.  We have to travel.  Not only do we have to travel out of the Region, it would be helpful if we could bother to show up in any sort of numbers to the biggest event in our Region.  Our turnout to Gothic was laughable, once again reinforcing the opinion of the Kingdom that we're a joke. 

 

I have always lived here and I have always taken pride in being a part of the Western Region - until now. I am personally hurt and offended that more of us did not attend. If it had not been for the Frey and Rhoadd choosing to fight with us this weekend, the Western Region would have fielded an army of seven.  I know we are a small Region, but I've seen us field 20 fighters for Gulf Wars and that is in another Kingdom.  

 

What's happened to us Western Region???  Where have we all gone???

 

 

Gavin
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/western-ansteorra.org/attachments/20031006/3b374298/attachment.html