[Western] "respectful"

[Quill]

Er... call me a simpleton and colour me confused, but I thought that
"respectful" would mean... "with respect". "Respect" meaning that you look
upon someone with a measure of esteem and honour. So it seems to me that if
you do anything "respectfully", be it to stand silently by, to speak for or
against, even to insult a person to their face, if you have respect IT WILL
SHOW... will it not?

(And for a quick example of how this fluctuates: I have been surprised, even
appalled, by the what seems to be a sudden acceptability for friends to
insult each other. It seems there's a deep level of trust going on, that you
can say all kinds of horrible, awful things about a person as long as you're
friends and it's understood that you respect and even love each other
despite those words.

Even with this being so, I wouldn't dare engage in this kind of banter with
someone like, say, Her Grace Willow, or Mistress Oriana, for whom, though I
consider these women my good friends, I hold in such high respect that I
would consider it deeply disrespectful to even think of them in even
remotely slandrous terms. Meanwhile, when addressing someone I don't know
very well, with whom I have not established the parameters of my
relationship, I will give them the measure of respect I deem all humans to
be worthy of until I know what the boundaries are, and have set some myself.
And so the way we show "respect" changes with circumstances and the level of
respect that is present.)


So... let's face it Westerners, we don't have a lot of respect for that
mysterious illusive "They" who've treated our groups so poorly of late. Why
should we? "They" haven't shown us much respect, and respect is earned, not
given. However, when it comes to the BOD we are now approaching more than a
faceless entity, a group of individuals who *have* earned a measure of
respect by being some of the people who do a great deal to hold the Society
(not just individual kingdoms, or regions, or baronies or shires or
households) together.

Furthermore, whoever these folks are (because I don't know about you, but I
don't know a one of them from Adam), strip them of their SCA experience,
their years of service and their awards and Peerages. (Hmm... while we're at
it, let's do the same for ourselves, just for a moment.) What we have are
people. Warm beating hearts and worn hands. Human Beings. And as such, they
automatically deserve our respect.

So, I for one am not concerned with some elusive definition for what is
"respectful". I trust that Respect will always be shown not by WHAT is said
and done (or not done), but HOW it's said and done. And I trust my Western
(my Ansteorran, even) brothers and sisters to do what is good, what is right
and honourable and respectful, because that's who they are.

In Service and with Love,
Quill


PS- These statements are not meant as an argument against statements already
rendered, but rather intended as enhancements thereof.
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