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Anger, hatred and the reenacting way.
Sturmkatze:
Anger, hatred and the reenacting way.
For a while now, I?ve been thinking about how much hatred there seems to be in our hobby of reenacting. So much hatred and jealousy? I recently bought a sailboat and WOW! All of the people I have met so far have been nice!! Now look, I know that it ain?t all rose-colored sweetness, but I also can see that the way we do it isn?t so cool.
Not only do organizations split due to egos and power trips, but friendships are destroyed over trivial BS. In the beginning of WWII Reenacting, there was the HRS, then the Eastern guys split to start the Federation, which has split due to its own politics. Now we have all kinds of different organizations all over the country? is this a good thing? I don?t think so.
And the hatreds? we all know of at least a couple of serious ?feuds? in our hobby that have went on for years over just plain STUPID BS. It?s sad! We all have the same interests, the same desire for fun -- yet this kind of BS seems to get in the way of it. I am going to work on ending any kind of disagreements w/ people I may have and I encourage YOU to do the same. Maybe it won?t work, maybe it?ll do nothing, but I feel I need to try.
I know, most of you think I?m just blathering, but I have been making it a point lately to let go of my anger and hatreds, there?s no point in it. Anyway, I?m posting this in the hope of getting some good response. Feel free to jump in comment.
Best, Marsh
Flamingos.r.us.:
Marsh,
I have reenacted for 25 years now. What you observe is not new, unfortunately. :'( It's called human nature. Your comment about the sailing made me laugh :laugh: Yeah, everybody's great and nice.....right now. Again, it's human nature. 0| We just have to grow a thick skin and a sense of forgiveness. I know, I live with it everyday. My sister was killed in a senseless car accident 2 1/2 years ago. An 18 year old girl was out all night with her prom, then played in a softball tournament all morning. She fell asleep at the wheel and hit my sister head on at one in the afternoon. She lived...my sister didn't. Some days, I hate that girl with all my heart and feel it eat me up inside. Then, I breath deep, try and forgive her and realize that she has to live with this guilt for all her life....something I wouldn't wish on my enemy.
Hate and anger penetrates all aspects of our lives, all lives. (unless you're Jesus, God, Buddah or some other WAY forgiving entity) Our job, to try and lighten up our area of life/world/reenacting/work....as for it just being in reenacting,well....I've seen the same thing happen in bead collecting societies, horse stables where people stable their animals together, and other hobbies where there are more than one person....my gosh, look at all the religious factions :laugh: its human nature....who wants to change that? ;)
Flamingos.r.us.:
Oops! :-[
I forgot to add, the reason I mentioned reenacting for 25 years, my personal experiences have me outlasting four different regiments that had either factioned off or dissolved because of feuds among the members.... I just moved onto another group. In fact, the last group I was with for over 10 years started becoming so clique-ish (and I was NOT a member of the "in" crowd) that my husband and I moved on before my feelings became majorly hurt rather than just stingingly bruised. That's life.... now it's onto bigger and better things.
Oh, by the way, that thing about feuds and human nature.... did I mention that I had an uncle that didn't speak to his brothers for over 15 years, until he thought he was dying? ;D again, that human nature thing....it's everywhere you want(or don't) want to be.... just try to make your own little section of life brighter ;)
Sturmkatze:
I know, I have just grown SO tired of the ..O I know, we ALL have bad days but there are people out there who seem to just make it their "mission" to make everyone else miserable. 0| I myself have a low BS tolerance and get kinda irritated when people try to make others miserable. Hell, I used to know this guy in the Southern Guards (unit made famous by the book "Confederates inthe Attic")... anyway, he told me how they thought it was fun to make other reenactors cry... really. We really haven't been friends since. Kharma has gotten him though... ;) Saw him last weekend and well, I won't go on... :laugh:
Anyway, in my opinion, that kind of crap makes "authentics" or us "stitch nazis" out to be a-holes. What is really sucky is that most of the "authentic" set will go way out of their way to help people... it's just the .00001 % that makes it bad. If I think about it I get irked.
So... mellow, happy... yoy
Flamingos.r.us.:
Yeah, that .ooo1 will always win out..... but I know what good I've done...I don't have to have a pat on the back to know I brightened a persons day. My story....I was really overweight for a good part of by life (as opposed to just overweight now) and had stomach surgery to help. When I lost alot of the weight, most of my 18th c. clothes didn't fit. Instead of selling the clothes for outrageous amounts of money, I would pick out some heavy set women at events and tell them I had some clothes they might like. I knew by the look in their eyes....they said they wouldn't fit...I knewhow it felt, not to be able to buy off the rack from sutlers/vendors because of my size. I never sold anything for over $20, and I gave quite a bit of it away.... there are more clothes out there today that used to belong to me than I even now own...just the look on their faces when they realized the stuff fit, AND it wasn't half bad...I knew somehow I convinced some women to keep reenacting, to not get frustrated or to give up...
when you look for the good in people, that's what you'll find......when you look for the bad, well, you can finish the saying.....
I guess what I'm saying is that what goes around ....comes around...(I hope).... it's that whole karma thing.......maybe Earl is right......
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