WHY I STAY

(This is an excerpt from a letter I wrote someone who was discouraged by the behavior she saw in the SCA. It pretty well encapsulates my feelings on the matter)

I am not going to tell you not to be bitter, because God knows I am bitter about the way the SCA turned out and some of the things that are done in its name.

I will tell you that the SCA does not and never has lived up to the high and noble ideals we profess. As you may have noticed it is frequently a snakepit of backbiting, cruelty, ego and oppression.

So what then is left? Simply this:
Scattered here and there through the group, like raisins in a cheap loaf of raisin bread, are a few people who really are moved by those ideals of chivalry, courtesy, noblesse oblige and true honor. The organization attracts them, even though they remain rare -- simply because they are so rare anywhere.

Those are the people who make it worthwhile and those are the ones you should cling to. Those are the ones who make it worthwhile being in the SCA and even devoting time and energy to making the organization work when you know most of those who will reap the benefits are people who not only don't know what those words mean -- they don't even suspect.

No one can blame you if you choose not to continue to work for the organization, although some of us will thank you profoundly if you do. But find those people, cling to them and enjoy their company. That, in my bitter, hard-won experience, is the only thing that makes the SCA worthwhile.