Re: a new idea

[Heather Swann <heather@pop.net>]

Poster: Heather Swann <heather@pop.net>

> Poster: OfTraquair <OfTraquair@aol.com>
> 
> > Secondly, say I don't feel very confident about my ability to put my
> >point across in words about why I think lord Bob should get an AoA.  

> If you can say it with your voice, you can say it in writing, so why the need
> to copy someone else's? 

Um, see my phrasing above.  Maybe I didn't make it clear enough.  What I
mean is, what if you're not good at getting your point across in writing
or in speaking?  :)  I mean, you're capable of answering questions, but
if left to make the case in speaking or writing it becomes some formless
rambling thing that you're afraid will sound stupid and screw up your
friend's chance for an award because you've not put things clearly?


> But more likely, your own writing skills are perfectly acceptable and you've
> just got "stage fright" about writing somewhere along the way. Hopefully Lady
> A will help you get over it.
> 
> My take on Duke Logan's opinion of copied letters was that if everyone copies
> off the same letter listing the same three incidents, activities or whatever,
> it leaves TRM wondering if these three things are it.  Surely, if the
> candidate is that good, a variety of people will come up with a variety of
> incidents and reasons for the award.  Some will be well known and public, many
> people would have heard tell of 2 or 3 incidents and these publicly known
> incidences may be almost enough for the award.   But the candidate has surely
> perfomed deeds less publicly as a matter of course?  Are there not personal
> incidences to relate in addition to the well known tales? 

Not always, and not all the public deeds are necessarily well known to
everyone.  Maybe you've seen a bunch of public deeds but you've never
walked up to this person to introduce yourself.


I would expect TRM
> to be looking for a pattern of behaviour, a history of service and growth, not
> just a few notable occaisions.

I would imagine that depends on the award.

> 
> >> 2.  If you cannot think of at least two or three reasons why an award
> should be >>given (not counting "he is a really nice person"), you probably
> should not write >>that letter.
> >
> >I disagree.  TRM's are apparently not so flooded out with letters that
> >such self censorship is necessary.  Besides, in some cases, one really
> >good reason is all it takes, and TRM's can certainly judge that for
> >Themselves.
> 
> My take:  we are all really nice persons, are we not?  It's polite to mention
> it, but it's no reason to give an award.  If I were a royal, I don't know that
> I'd ask the scribes to go to the effort and expense of making a scroll, if all
> I heard was someone did A, B and is a really nice guy, no matter how many
> times I heard it.  

Um, I didn't mean the 'nice guy' thing.  I meant that sometimes someone
does one really amazing bit of service.  It's only one deed, but it
really deserves an AoA.  Also, not to offend anyone but no, we are not
all 'really nice guys'.  We give each other the benefit of the doubt and
we try to treat each other well, but frankly at the end of a
recommendation, I would like to hear that someone is a 'nice guy'.  I
think in a courteous society attitude is important.  I've heard people
say, "Well, so-and-so does a lot of good work, but they're a jerk, so I
wouldn't recommend them for a <fill in the blank>."  So in that sense it
seems an important thing to say.  In order meetings attitude seems to
have something to do with whether or not people get the award....


If I heard that and only that over and over again, I really
> wouldn't want to make the award.  I might want to contact folks and ask them
> to elaborate, but (as a royal) I'm sure I don't have the time to do that very
> often, and I don't really know if that would be the proper thing to do.
> 
> Anne of Buckston
> (note new e-mail)

Well, what if A and B are deeds that are deserving of an award?  See,
here's where the writing thing comes in again.  I'm the sort of person
who will state, "Lord Bob has done A, B, C, D, and E, and is a really
courteous guy, so I would like to recommend him for an AoA."  I tend not
to elaborate because I don't write that way.  I'm just not good at it. 
By your standard though, Bob will turn blue from cold before he gets
that AoA, and it will take a letter from Lady Alice the good writer to
get him what he deserves just because I don't write well and elaborate
on things I say.

Is my point a bit more clear?  I don't mean to offend here, I'm just
trying to be clear....and no doubt I'm rambling like a ninny, but there
it is.  When I try to elaborate, I ramble....

Miri
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