[Cynnabar] A rational approach

[Randy Asplund]

Jawiga was absolutely right, and I commend her for having the guts to  
say it in the face of such a polar reaction.  I hope that other people  
who feel as she does will be willing to speak up so we can at least  
represent both sides of the matter fairly.

Here's why she's right:

1) The SCA Inc leadership is not stupid. They asked for what they  
need. They thought about it and told us specifically what they want.  
Therefore there is no emergency that requires our immediate payment  
beyond what they asked for and so the emergency policy for a decision  
is not appropriate. It is hard to make a case for there being a need  
to decide right now how much extra to give or who it should be given  
to. As long as the SCA meets the required need, the excess is not time  
critical.

2) The whole point of taking time to decide is so that here is time to  
actually sort it out and get the word with ACCURATE facts to people.  
But what you folks are demanding is that we go on minimal information  
that includes a very poor understanding of the situation since all of  
the facts have not even been produced yet. We may indeed decide later  
that it is a good and right thing to contribute the excess amount to  
someone, but we deserve a chance to figure that out without being  
caught up in a rushed panic and pushed into it. And that is what is  
happening, action without looking squarely at all of the facts.

3) There is nothing that says we can't give deeply from our pockets in  
3 weeks, and the delay won't cause one bit of a problem for the SCA if  
you believe #1 above to be true -that the SCA isn't stupid and has  
asked for what it actually needs.

4) The worst excuse I can think of for doing this now is "because  
other groups are doing it now." Geeze, do we want to be rational or do  
we want to join the lemming conga line because our egos need us to  
keep up with the Jones? If the SCA or the Middle Kingdom wants more  
money or needs more money after this weekend it will become known at  
that time., We can still be just as generous in 3 weeks as now, but we  
will be making an informed and thoughtful decision based on facts, not  
what some panicked guessing produced. I would rather be appreciated  
for being wise and generous when it counts than seen as foolish for  
blindly committing to a path I didn't fully understand.

RanthulfR

Randy Asplund
Facebook: "Randy Asplund, Artist"
www.RandyAsplund.com
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Illustrator of Science Fiction & Fantasy
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