[SCA-AE] FW: [Mid] Sad news from Lutr and Tessa

[Daniel]

My only response is "Prove it". I am not saying that this happened in 
this situation, however in the hypothetical situation you described what 
if it was never sent in the first place? They knew their membership was 
coming due and they thought, "We need to do something about this." but 
promptly forgot because of the debacle at the office. Then life happened 
and things got forgotten about. Serious life, people got injured and 
hospitals were involved so the SCA membership slipped their minds again. 
So things settle and they realize they realize that it's too late to 
mail in their renewal, and they have to mail it in because they don't 
have internet in their home, their friends don't have internet in their 
home, they don't have internet at work none of the local officers have 
internet at home, the public library has no internet and there are no 
internet cafe's in a 100 mile radius (it could happen I guess). So their 
membership lapses and they say, "Our membership lapsed, we're very 
sorry" as well they should. The BOD looks up in corpora and says, "Sorry 
but the rule is, you are done". They could say, "The USPS lost it and 
life happened we're sorry." Should we let it go? If so, why have the 
rule at all? Why have the rule if a simple, unverifiable statement 
absolves them of all problems.
However in this situation we follow the rules. Now there is outrage! 
Why? Most of the voices raised in outrage over this blind adherence to 
the rules of the society would be just as upset if the BOD bent the 
rules as they saw fit. It's your choice folks: A BOD that sticks to the 
mandates set before them and doesn't deviate or a BOD that bends them as 
they see fit. How long would it be before people were outraged by the 
BOD deciding that they could bend a rule that people liked? I don't know 
the people on the BOD and I have no reason to blindly support them. 
However, I do know what it feels like to be hounded and vilified for 
trying to do the job that you were asked to do and following the rules 
to the letter. It sucks.  It causes people to decide that this body of 
people we call the society and the dream that goes along with it isn't 
fun after 18 years. You don't like the rule, change it! Get people 
active, ask for change, write intelligently worded letters explaining 
why it needs to be changed and suggest changes. So you are outraged, "So 
what?" Standing there whistling like a teakettle does nothing for 
anyone, get up and do something. Sit down and read corpora and pick out 
the sections you think might be a problem and try to find a different 
way of wording them to achieve a better end. Then submit your proposed 
changes. Will it work, who knows? Worth a shot. Will talking about 
tilting windmills ever bring them down? No. People complain about the 
"state of our society" all the time. Far fewer grab their lance mount 
their donkey and try to fix it.

BD
Æ


Taranach McLeod wrote:
> This is not directed to this poster specifically, it is merely the
> post that sparked the following:
>
> I would like to posit the following scenario if I may:
>     A crown tourney is held and various participants with valid
> memberships of varying renewal dates enter said tourney. There is no
> way of knowing who may win but we shall say the Sir Loin of Beef and
> his consort Lady Mignon have taken the day. Their membership will
> expire in three months so, having no internet, they send in their
> membership immediately via US Post. They have fulfilled the letter of
> the law.
>
> Meanwhile the Post office manages to lose things in it's inimitable
> fashion, and further Milpitas is well known for taking 6 weeks or
> longer to turn around a membership renewal. Under normal circumstances
> this would still not be a problem as our honorable nobles would notice
> that there cards had not arrived as the deadline draws near... but
> hark!! A tragic accident, a fire or a flood, perhaps something
> requiring hospitalization... a family thrown suddenly into turmoil.
> Suddenly small details that were supposedly "already taken care of"
> seem to slip the mind in the greater need of the family. Gamely they
> struggle on with their duties despite their problems.
>
> Not long after, things settle down and they realize that they STILL
> have not received their renewals even though they were sent in
> immediately after winning the tourney. They make an inquiry and
> discover to their horror that their membership has indeed lapsed... do
> they merely not mention the fact to anyone and try to quietly get
> things straightened out? No... They come forward and admit the error
> although the fault lies not with them. They do the honorable and
> chivalrous thing.
>
> Would the board have been keeping track of memberships for all royals
> and noticed this problem or would it need to be pointed out to them?
> What about the Kingdom Seneschal? What about any of the other kingdom
> officers? If any of them did notice and point this out to the BOD, who
> would be the ones to enforce this rule, Should not TRM's be notified
> BEFORE said membership expired so that they could attempt to resolve
> the issue?
>
> In the aforementioned scenarios, a dishonorable person could have
> probably passed unnoticed and gotten their memberships renewed without
> anyone knowing any different.
>
> Meanwhile an honest person who does the honorable and noble thing, is
> stripped of their crown, made to fight all over again to keep what
> they had already earned, an entire kingdom is thrown into turmoil, and
> a populace is appalled and moved to anger.
>
> If this sounds similar to what has already happened, remember that
> this could happen to anyone.
> The point being... Who stands to gain from each outcome? Has anyone
> benefited from the second outcome? Is adherence to the strictest
> interpretation of the rules, no matter what, worth EITHER of those
> possible outcomes?
>
> Disregarding the modern courts and interpretation of the laws of the
> land, was it not in period for those who ruled to occasionally bend
> the rules to allow clemency or even mercy in the rare extenuating
> circumstance?
>
> I submit that, if nothing else, this rule *really* needs to be
> modified before any further damage is done. I also submit that it
> should also be a responsibility of a kingdom's Legal officer, the
> seneschal, to insure that this type of thing does not happen again. If
> they are responsible for insuring that memberships are up to date
> PRIOR to participation in Crown Tournament, (as well as votes and
> other things) then they should also at least take an active role in
> making sure that their sovereigns memberships are current and
> forewarning them that it is about to expire in time for them to take
> action.
>
> Taranach
>
> On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 8:12 PM, Amy Heilveil <amyheilveil at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>>  And yet, I can't help but remember that with
>>     
>>> honor comes responsibility. Making sure one has their membership
>>> renewed in a timely manner is not so onerous a burden.
>>> -Brianna
>>>
>>>       
>> And so why not make it a requirement that the winning combatant (and
>> consort) renew their membership  within a month of the win? Regardless
>> of when their membership would expire?  It gets it out of the way and
>> then wouldn't be something that anyone would have to think of  during
>> the entire reign.
>>
>> Just a thought,
>> Despina de la what a large can of worms
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