I present this Zen koan to you, just as a rhetorical exercise, just to play
devil's advocate. Keep in mind that as with any koan there are as many answers
as there are sentient beings upon the planet, and that it is meant as a
meditative, perspective expanding experience, and NOT to come up with a
definitive, unilateral answer. Here goes:
If a shiksa from Long Island can be a North African princess, and an
African-American man from Los Angeles can be a 12th century Welsh nobleman
living in Normandy, and a farmer's son from Ohio can be a Kamakura period
samurai related to the Shogun, and any woman who can fight her worth can win
the crown for her male consort, then why can't a jaunty dog, game for a plastic
bag, be a "coursing hound" within the Society and accepted at events?
Or, my Doug, who actually looks like a Talbot, and behaves like a Talbot, and
doG only knows by happy accident be genetically identical to a period Talbot,
not be a Talbot within this world that we've created, are continuing to create,
yes for historical accuracy, but obviously within the instances I've sited in
the former paragraph, for our own pleasure?
We do not saw off injured limbs of downed fighters. We do not have the archers
scan the list field for the injured beyond help, and have them humanely put an
arrow through their heart. If they "die" , they yet rise to fight again. I
haven't been in the Society for as long as many here, but so far, I haven't
lost any of my friends to the Plague. We use sewing machines to produce our
garb. I've actually gotten a couple of my pieces from a catalog, and I haven't
been thrown out of any events for it. We use cotton "blends". We drive our
motor vehicles to events, rather than taking a horse-drawn caravan, or go by
camel. When our fine doggies are allowed at events, it is required that they've
had their shots. I could go on and on, but the point is that, obviously, we
make concessions.
I mean, c'mon: There's historical accuracy to a point for education, and then
there's where we use that accuracy and education as a spring-board to what we
all have come here for: Fun.
I've often said that I wish the whole world were as the SCA, that it only
played at War. There's alot to be said for the way we do things. I love the
historical accuracy mavens; they keep us on the right course. That's why we're
not a Fantasy Society, or merely a RenFaire that never closes ( fun though as
these things are!).
But, why do we call it "The Dream"?
Greyt Regard,
Mevanwy and the Men in Black: Douglas and Ambrose
XOXO
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