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Words from the Warlord

July A.S. XVIII

by Thomas Buttesthorn

This is the last column I will write as the Warlord of Southern Shores. As I write this, not knowing who my successor will be, a few thoughts come to mind.

When I became Warlord a year ago, I 'had many goals I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to start a regular war practice. Unfortunately, this is yet to be realized. I wanted to spread knowledge of war to those fighters and soon-to-be fighters who have heard about wars but haven't experienced them yet. I hope I have helped someone, somewhere. But it was my sincere hope that I could take the office of Warlord and use it as a platform to benefit SCA people, not only in the Province, but everywhere, regardless of Kingdom. It has been my hope to somehow aid the furtherance of "the Dream" of chivalry and honor. If I have succeeded, then I can step down content.

I guess that in a sense, I am speaking (I hope) to my successor (whoever he or she may be), but in a larger sense, I am speaking to everyone. "The dream" as we call it is not a narrowly defined or expressed hope or way of living, it is a rainbow, a multifaceted diamond that has many meanings to many people. As such, one can serve it in many ways. But it is not enough merely to watch, to take. One must give, take part, help. In doing so, we can move toward becoming what we can be. We can expand ourselves and become more than the utilitarian drones that some in this barbarian age would say we are, We can become human beings in the fullest sense of the word. And through this we can set a bright example and perhaps show the way to others. In giving our own unique color and light to the rainbow of the SCA, we can give ever new dimensions and horizons to the Dream.

But find something! You can find a place to fit in. It doesn't have to be writing a column like this, or being King. You can help serve at a feast, marshal a fight, help someone set up a pavilion, help clean up the site afterward, act in a play, greet a newcomer courteously, and take time to talk to one. The Dream has so many needs and can supply so many in return.

Find something! Whether you are Warlord of Southern Shores, or Prince, or King, or someone who has an idea or sees a need, seize it! Take it in your hands and make something of it. Don't wait for someone else. You will be surprised to learn, when you stop to think about it, that you have gained much in return. I know this sounds like a chatelaine's lecture, but it's true.

If the Dream means anything to you, it can grow only if it's fed, just as you as a person can only grow by taking part in life. Being in an office (I want to say "on the spot") such as Warlord, or anything else, I suppose, has nothing to do with what you become in a surface sense. There is a great deal more work than glory. But it's using the office to benefit others, to make the Society work a little better, to help others move a little closer to realizing what they can do, have, and be that can help you in turn grow and become in a deeper sense a true human being. And by adding your facet, bright and shining, to the jewel that is what we can be, we might one day build a resplendent necklace. One that will shimmer around the world and in the hearts of people who dare to dream that there might be another way.

Lastly, I will leave you with a little war poetry from "King Harald's Saga” (Penguin Classics, translated by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson, 1982), said to have been composed by King Harald Sigurdsson (Hardrada) at the battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066, where he met his death.

We go forward
Into battle
Without armor
Against blue blades.
Helmets glitter
My coat of mail
And all our armor
Are at our ships.

We never kneel in battle
Before the storm of weapons
And crouch behind our shields;
So the noble lady told me:
She told me once to carry
My head always high in battle
Where swords seek to shatter
The skulls of doomed warriors.

Thank you.
Thomas Buttesthorn
29 May, 1983, AS XVIII.

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