mastersantiago

Crimson is gone. It's not right. I am proud to have learned from him, to have been sponsored for my Provost Prize by him, to have been his friend and to have crossed blades with him on any number of occasions. He gave of himself to everyone and even in the end, donating his organs to others. He was truly a noble man.

I will miss him.

...are they actually implying that the killer whale and the trainer should both be stoned to death????

...an actual ARMY OF GOD.

Their "mission" and "warfare maps" are particularly enlightening.

While I've said in the past that generally I don't find internet petitions to be hugely effective, in recent years they've been getting steadily better.

So, if you have an interest in helping to protect a valuable paleontological find in New Jeresy than consider adding your name to this petition.

This is really just for the SCA people on my list. You non-SCA people are welcome to read it, but I'll put this behind a cut since it will be both long and potentially uninteresting to you.

( ...making A&S type events 'sexy'... )

It's interesting to see what happens when you decide to take a stand on things which you feel strongly about that are, to the rest of the world, idealistic in nature.

Yesterday I published some thoughts which I hoped would go around and would make people stop and think and hopefully consider taking action to their higher ideals. (Note: While I am the author those words came out as the result of personal observations, conversations with a number of people and from seeking out the advice of people for whom I have much respect.) Ideals which I feel strongly about and which I think many others in our specific world do as well.

In the single day since those words went out I have seen many people not involved in the events at hand step up for their own reasons and accept what was said as a call to live towards their own higher ideals. This was a reaction that surprised me at the time (though in hindsight I probably should not have been surprised given the character of so much of the Western populace) and it gives me a great feeling about the future knowing that they are out there.

Unfortunately I have also seen a couple of cases of people choosing to continue to act to lower instincts, reacting with mockery or challenge and I am thus reminded that living to our highest ideals also sets us up in a place from which we can and do fall, not to mention those who simply choose to jump. I am reminded that everyone is important in our world even when we don't necessarily know how or to whom and the thought that others watch our actions is a daunting lesson I think many of us could benefit from learning.

With that in mind (and much further contemplation) I am now going to follow the example of those others who, while not being involved with the events at hand, did choose to speak their own ills and make their own pledges towards living to their higher ideals.

I have a terrible temper. It often will not seem so because it takes something significant to move me in that direction, but when I am finally pushed that far I often find I am fully and completely capable of a significant anger driven response. I also have a number of "big red buttons" which many would consider petty that also drive excessive reaction out of me. I am fortunate to have a number of people in my life who are able to moderate my temper and help me to keep my responses more under control.

Patience they say is a virtue. If so than I am not so virtuous as I could be.

Some of what I have said since all this has begun has made life more difficult for a number of people. My actions have certainly added to their burden and while I do not feel that anything I have said is necessarily wrong I do regret that in having said them I have made work for others who were put in potentially very bad positions by my outbursts. (For what it's worth they have also, each and every one of them, acquited themselves with poise, grace, passion and strength and by their actions have made me very proud of them and feel very humble that they consider me worthy of looking after.) I could have allowed myself the time to more carefully consider my words and in so doing avoided the trouble I have caused them, but if I am to be honest than I must admit that I know that in my own upset I deliberately decided not to be persuaded from my course. In that I am most definitely regretful and hope that I have learned well enough that in the future I will choose a better, more noble course.

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And for any who wonder why this is not going out more or less simultaneously on my Facebook as the first message did, it is simply that from where I am now (work) I have no access. It will be shared there this evening once I am home.

An assertion is merely that place where you begin. It may be right or it may be wrong, but one does not know for sure until one explores the idea. So before I begin to explore the idea I am going to make an assertion – that valor is defined thusly:

Strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness. Personal bravery.

… and based on this assertion I want to ask some questions.

Are there moments of real valor in the SCA? Are there moments of real personal bravery?

Right now there is an opportunity in this kingdom for a handful of people to engage in real valor by stepping up and admitting that they were wrong, that they have made bad decisions or behaved in ways which have brought a serious devisiveness to the kingdom. Some have tried to lay blame upon others rather than take their portion of it upon themselves where it rightly belongs or have tried to play the roles of innocents or martyrs instead of admitting their degrees of culpability.

All of the situations which have gone on and have led us to this point in our collective history have gone on for so long that there are no longer any innocents.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing that anyone can do to make this better save one single action - if you are involved than step up and own what you've done.

Own your part in the mess and admit publicly that your actions contributed to it. The rest of us don't really need the gory details. We probably shouldn't really hear them at all.

But if you tell the rest of us publicly that you admit that you blew it, acted badly or otherwise regret what you have contributed to this mess and that you genuinely want to make it right then we will know that you are being honest and not just trying to let bygones be bygones hoping that it will just all pass and be forgotten.

Yes, you'll take your lumps. That's a part of the process and you can not side step it. There will be a backlash of people who will be horrified with you or angry with you or disheartened in the very thing they once believed in but now question.

But if you own it and admit that you are a part of it, then, and only then will you really be putting not just your feet on the path to healing yourself, but you'll be showing everyone else the way as well.

For every person who is angry with what you have done, another will offer you forgiveness. For every person who is horrified by your previous actions another will offer understanding. For every person who is disheartened another will see that true valor is still possible.

Owning what you have done takes real valor.

All that the rest of us really want is to see valor and we hope that you will step up, own up and be the truly valorous people we can believe in.

If you agree with these words than please take them, post them where you will and let everyone know that you, like I, believe that there is valor in the Kingdom of The West.

People thinking that they get away with telling lies about what I actually said as if it wouldn't get back to me.

People, seriously, these issues surrounding the actions taken by their majesties at Bardic are *extremely* complicated and idle speculation is not going to serve *anyone* and can, in fact, make things worse.

If you feel a need to write a letter to the BoD and express your perspective, go ahead and do so, but please, please, please, keep idle speculation out of it. Every "rumor" which makes it's way back to the Kingdom Seneschal makes the work of fixing everything ten times more difficult.

Thank you.