[MR] 'Point of Honor' - Re: defining terms

[Smith CTR Jeffrey C]

As I read this (and many of the earlier comments in this thread), it makes me recall the old bad gift line, "it's the thought that counts".  I suspect in nearly every case in the SCA (maybe this is wishful thinking), the intent in these things is usually good, and I tend to see them that way.

Barcsi Janos 

-----Original Message-----
From: atlantia-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org [mailto:atlantia-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org] On Behalf Of logan
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 12:30
To: 'Merry Rose'
Subject: Re: [MR] 'Point of Honor' - Re: defining terms

and how would you react if, say, you took my leg and then took your own and i yielded the fight to you?  the few times it has been offered to me after i had been fighting for a couple of years i refused it.  only one time was there an issue with it, every other time my opponent stood back up or repositioned his arm to continue the fight.  the one time, and this cemented my opinion on the practice, i was in a tourney in trimaris.  a fighter legged me and then made a grand spectacle of him striking his own leg.  the crowd cheered "point of chivalry!".  prior to the fight commencing i asked him to regain his original position and not take his own leg.  he fused and said that his knight taught him that to not do so would be a mark against his own virtue.  i told him to give me the chance to gain renown and to please rise.  he refused.  so, at lay on, i chopped my own arms off and yielded.  he came to me later with his knight to tell me that i robbed him of displaying his chivalry.  huh?  im glad to see the practice falling away.


i do understand, and accept, that most folks think they are doing the right thing.  its similar to offering someone single combat in a melee (which i also refuse when offered unless its a timed battle and im the last one on our side and we need the extra time).  anytime we remove the purity of our contests we dilute it with opinions on what is right and wrong.  since opinion vary greatly and people emotions tend to get involved when an opinion of someone else doesnt match their own i feel the practice is more problematic than enhancing.  keeping it simple removes that and, i think, improves the flow of the contest.

.02 thrown in  ;^)
regards
logan

"I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell." 
Harry S Truman
"If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared"
Niccolo Machiavelli
For your amouring needs please visit:
www.ebonwoulfe.com/armory.htm

www.ebonwoulfe.com

For worldwide listings of fighter practices please visit:
www.fighterpractice.com


-----Original Message-----
From: atlantia-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
[mailto:atlantia-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org] On Behalf Of Cian Conor MacQuaid
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 10:31 AM
To: Merry Rose
Subject: Re: [MR] 'Point of Honor' - Re: defining terms

...
> really is a "point of honor" why has it not been offered to me in over 
> a decade?  i would assume that it is because my opponent wants to win 
> the
...
> regards
> logan

FWIW, I would offer it to you. True, this may be academic since I am unlikely to be in a position of offering, but I would. I confess that I might be so astonished that it would take a moment. I have done it in tourney, in Coronet and in Crown. It isn't all about winning. I do it because I think it is the right way to play. Part of it is how I was raised and part of it just is. I have no strong opinion about whether other fighters should or not, just that I do. Offering to let the other fighter yield never occurred to me until I saw it done, however. I am still processing that one.

Cian
========================================================================
                   The Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside
    List Info: http://merryrose.atlantia.sca.org/
  Submissions: Atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
Subscriptions:
http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/listinfo.cgi/atlantia-atlantia.sca.org

========================================================================
                   The Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside
    List Info: http://merryrose.atlantia.sca.org/
  Submissions: Atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
Subscriptions: http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/listinfo.cgi/atlantia-atlantia.sca.org