[MR] 5%

[C. Brian Towey]

It's funny, but I always see a long, long list of thank-you notes after
every event, and it seems like a lot more than 5%.  Somehow, I think this 5%
figure excludes a lot of people.  Here is a partial list, in alphabetical
order:

- Our A&S artisans who spend untold hours creating masterpieces for the rest
of us to admire
- Our A&S judges
- Our chirurgeons
- Our cooks and brewers who spread lavish teas and beer bashes and other
hospitality tables away from the main hall
- Our dancing masters and mistresses who lead us hoofers through our paces
- Our fighters who spend untold hours at their anvils and their pells to
give the rest of us something to cheer for
- Our folks whose pavilions and banners and garb and other spiff add greatly
to the ambience of every event
- Our generous folks who donate auction items and bid on them
- Our marshals
- Our MOLs
- Our musicians 
- Our royalty who spend vast amounts of their own time and money driving to
distant corners of the realm
- Our scribes who spend countless hours hunched over a drawing board for
somebody else's awards
- Our teachers who run and assist kids' activities
- Our water bearers
- Those who recruit and clothe and shepherd newcomers

And that's just to name a few. In the Troll tent alone, I've overlooked
those who take the reservations, post the Web sites, count the money, make
fabulous site tokens, and so on.  Everywhere you look there are volunteers.
Their work begins long before the date of the event, and continues after the
dust has settled.

In fact, with a reasonably broad definition of "participation" the
participation rate is pretty close to 100%.  Higher, in fact, than some
places I've worked, where even paid employees sometimes loaf or shirk.

Do the organizers at some events feel over-worked and under-appreciated?  It
seems so.  Is it right to insult everyone else for playing their own roles
in the overall game?  I think not.

Your servant,

Lord Charles Fleming
Proud to be a ninety-five percenter