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Old 12-17-2000, 10:21 AM   #33
crystalwizard
Dojo: Aikido of Dallas
Location: Dallas
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 123
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This reminds me

Of something done in the SCA called Freaking the Mundanes.....i.e. wearing your costumes off of the event site and out into public....

With that said, a bit of serious commentary. In every society we make ourselves part of..whether it be the big society that makes up the place where we live or the small society that makes up the group of friends we play cards with on friday night or any other society in between...there are a set of customs we conform to. Things that we do becaue everyone else feels it's wrong not to do them that way. Things like putting the knife on the left side of the plate...taking your shoes off in the entry way...bowing from a seated possition...not wearing a hat to the table...all the various picky rules of ettiqute of any occasion you can name.
Things which in the long run really dont matter..doing them doesn't save anyone's life and not doing them doesn't kill anyone but things which make the socioty what it is and are as much a necessary part to fit into it as breathing is a necessary part of fitting into life itself.

All these things have a 'reason' or had a reason for why they were started to be practiced in the first place...and people that feel very strongly will be quite willing to get in your face and lecture you in all seriousness on WHY they must be followed. At the same time people who realy can't see a need to do them will be just as happy to get in your face and tell you why you shouldn't be a slave to the other people's ideas.

It boils down to....if you dont mind being looked at by those in the society you are in as someone who doesn't really fit...maybe avoided...maybe even kicked OUT of the society by the rest of the members...then dont bother with the customs.

However if you do mind...if you do actualy wish to be a member of whatever society it is you're spending time being part of...then by all means bother with following the customs in the manner the rest of the members follow them.

[Edited by crystalwizard on December 17, 2000 at 10:42am]

____________
Kelly Christiansen

A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror
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