Where’s the (New Year) Honour?

I’m torn between being utterly depressed at the whole dreadful concept of the Honours system, and of course being once more miffed that I still don’t have that OBE… heh. But once one gets past the foam slopping about on the top of the published list – ooh, look, that wonderful old actor, so deserving… ah, and that bloke off the news, nice… – to the core cohort of clever party mechanicals and back room lobby funders, it begins to be hard to avoid the realisation the whole lark is all about shining the glint on the coats of power.

In a Druid context, I wonder if this nonsense would ever get off the ground. Could there ever be an honours system for Druids? If there was, who would we garland up? And if we tried, would they accept, run, or simply laugh at the incongruity of it all? I can think of a few folk I would hold up as exemplars of the modern Druid tradition; Philip Carr-Gomm, Emma Restall Orr, Kris Hughes, Philip Shallcrass, Damh the Bard. Trouble is, I can’t imagine any of them accepting such a gift.

Is it that the recognition is already there within the Druid community and it seems therefore unnecessary to make a more public celebration? Druidry is not an evangelical tradition and there is no call to convert, no inviting doorway through which to pull the unwary. Is it that the term Honour is so tightly woven into Druid practice that to buff it up under the light of the media would be to tarnish it? Or are we fearful of the twin voices of hubris and conscience, that speak quietly into our ear of how good we are, and how bad, and let’s hope nobody notices!

Would you have a celebratory system of honour for Druidry? If not, why not?
If so… who would you put in the spotlight?

And as the cold wind blows and the rain blatters onto the window and reminds me I promised myself a New Year walk and a proper Druid wouldn’t mind the weather… have a smashing 2014, folks. May the coming year have at least as many high points as all the previous years combined, and far far far fewer lows. 2013… you had some major lows. 2014, bloddy behave yourself!

bish

1 Jan 2014

Ethics, spirituality, wibble

2 responses to “Where’s the (New Year) Honour?”

Nimue Brown

January 1, 2014 at 1:03 pm

Much as I love many of the folk who have very public roles, the honouring of those who are already very much honoured by their communities does seem a tad redundant. What might be more relvant is to spend more time singing the praises of those backroom folk, organisers who do not get to bask in collective love very often, but who make things go. For example, Philip Carr Gomm is the public face of OBOD, but what would OBOD be without folk like Penny Billinghton (Touchstone)? Geoff Boswell for Druid con this year would be another name to mention. All those technical folk holding the Druid Network together. The names we do not all know but without whom precious little would happen.

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bish

January 1, 2014 at 1:42 pm

Penny and Geoff, yes indeed, and I would also add you. Not only as personal friend and inspiration but as someone who had made a very fine fist of Druid blogging and bookery. And Cat, and Jo, and, and… The list started to get too long, lol.

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