A Reply to Needle regarding the Elder
Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2021 5:11 pm
An attached piece to the full: I originally tried to have this published through T&N, but I haven't seen Penny in quite a bit. I hope she's doing well.
I am Kili the Dwarf, and I ask a question in response:
What should we do?
I ask Needle and her compatriots who are so ready to overturn the order here in Risenholm this question.
The fact is I do not disagree with her! Far from it. Certainly the Village is at a crossroads. There is no doubt about that, as it faces what is thus far its greatest crisis and opportunity.
But unlike her I will not speak snidely or under my breath; the Elder has stumbled. Who wouldn’t in the face of what happened to her. She is Kith, a person, who has suffered an injury possibly unknown in our times! Betrayed by the man she loved, who didn’t hurt her, but the town she loves. Who injured not just one body, bad enough, but the whole of the community.
But to say the town is leaderless is I think a fundamental misunderstanding of the position that we are in, because, as I put to Needle and indeed her boss, Grillsson, what should we do?
What should we do, Needle, about the farm situation? Do you have a way to fix that? What about the well? Do you have a way to fix that?
I hear cries for leadership, but the wisest leader is not the one who acts first, but the one who acts correctly; and what I see here is an Elder who from years of experience knows what they need right now is time, and knowledge.
Apathy may be the long death, but slamming your head into the wall is a quick one.
Grillsson may cry that he will listen to the people, but what does that mean if the people won’t speak to him? What does it mean if the people don’t know how to solve the problem? And what if the people say things he doesn’t want to hear?
The fact is that the problems that have shaken this village have cracked the very foundations of it. We cannot act without knowing how to fix those problems. What would the Elder shouting orders at people do if the orders have no meaning other than being given? What GOOD is the Elder supposed to be doing right now? The Surgers are being given the same chance that the original Risen did; to find their own purpose, to understand themselves a bit better. We are not children who need to be led along by the hand, but men and women who need to find ourselves.
The Elder has made mistakes, certainly. But that she is being apathetic or uncaring isn’t one of them. In fact, she is doing one of the hardest things to do, which is nothing. Allowing us all, including the factions within Risenholm, to find their feet, and work together, rather than being forced to work together by their mother. It is time for the millers, the dredgers, and the reeves to all act like adults and work together to solve the problem, rather than being told what to do by the Elder like she’s settling a fight between children.
I am Kili the Dwarf, and I ask a question in response:
What should we do?
I ask Needle and her compatriots who are so ready to overturn the order here in Risenholm this question.
The fact is I do not disagree with her! Far from it. Certainly the Village is at a crossroads. There is no doubt about that, as it faces what is thus far its greatest crisis and opportunity.
But unlike her I will not speak snidely or under my breath; the Elder has stumbled. Who wouldn’t in the face of what happened to her. She is Kith, a person, who has suffered an injury possibly unknown in our times! Betrayed by the man she loved, who didn’t hurt her, but the town she loves. Who injured not just one body, bad enough, but the whole of the community.
But to say the town is leaderless is I think a fundamental misunderstanding of the position that we are in, because, as I put to Needle and indeed her boss, Grillsson, what should we do?
What should we do, Needle, about the farm situation? Do you have a way to fix that? What about the well? Do you have a way to fix that?
I hear cries for leadership, but the wisest leader is not the one who acts first, but the one who acts correctly; and what I see here is an Elder who from years of experience knows what they need right now is time, and knowledge.
Apathy may be the long death, but slamming your head into the wall is a quick one.
Grillsson may cry that he will listen to the people, but what does that mean if the people won’t speak to him? What does it mean if the people don’t know how to solve the problem? And what if the people say things he doesn’t want to hear?
The fact is that the problems that have shaken this village have cracked the very foundations of it. We cannot act without knowing how to fix those problems. What would the Elder shouting orders at people do if the orders have no meaning other than being given? What GOOD is the Elder supposed to be doing right now? The Surgers are being given the same chance that the original Risen did; to find their own purpose, to understand themselves a bit better. We are not children who need to be led along by the hand, but men and women who need to find ourselves.
The Elder has made mistakes, certainly. But that she is being apathetic or uncaring isn’t one of them. In fact, she is doing one of the hardest things to do, which is nothing. Allowing us all, including the factions within Risenholm, to find their feet, and work together, rather than being forced to work together by their mother. It is time for the millers, the dredgers, and the reeves to all act like adults and work together to solve the problem, rather than being told what to do by the Elder like she’s settling a fight between children.