Kindness in the SCA
Let me tell a story. Last year was my second Pennsic. If you don’t know what Pennsic War is, I will be doing a complete article on it at a later date. During our trip, we wanted to find more time to volunteer as well as getting to experience more of the event. There is so much to do, even with a well planned schedule, it is hard to fit in everything. Sometimes things overlap, and you have to make tough choices about what you want to do most. I feel like this is probably harder the first few years, because there is so much to see and do that you have never done before.
I definitely wanted to spend some time making the event run for everyone else. I specifically wanted to spend some time at Troll since I was BMDL’s deputy exchequer. I ended up making it to two shifts at troll. One of them was very busy during middle Friday, the other was late in the week, when the hours would be counted for war points. At this time, there were three or four people running the computers, and I think maybe two families stopped by while we were there.
I was being a bad SCAdian, and I did not remember to bring anything with me to do while I waited. The woman next to me was sewing a veil. We started chatting about my misadventures in sewing, and the fact that she had been sewing since she was a child. She showed me what she was doing with the veil. It seemed pretty easy, and I put it on my list of things to do over the winter. At one point, she set down her sewing, paused and looked at me, and asked me if I’d like to learn how to make a button. It completely took me by surprise. I told her I’d love to learn.
I was not aware that making a button was so easy. She showed me how to fold the cloth and keep it gathered. She told me how some people cut pieces in circles to use, or how some will tear up smaller pieces of cloth inside. She gave me a scrap and an extra needle, and I focused on creating a little ball of fabric. The secret that I didn’t tell her is that both lining up buttons and hand sewing scares the crap out of me, but that button was my favorite thing to take home from Pennsic. It rode home in the cup holder of the truck. I was so proud of it. I hadn’t gone to a class to make it, as I had with a few other items I took home. While at the event, I had many conversations with people I hadn’t met before. But this one conversation and this one thing stood out enough that I will remember it for many years and it made my event better.
We have a plethora of artisans and craftsmen in the SCA. The things they do are amazing. I really believe that we have a wonderful collection of people who really love creating. This experience made me realize that even the things that I think are simple may be new to someone else, and sharing that is what makes us a community. I hope that in telling this story to others, they can see how much impact a few moments can inspire another.