- The lame rides a horse, | the handless is herdsman,
The deaf in battle is bold;
The blind man is better | than one that is burned,
No good can come of a corpse.
This passage is one I have used often to overcome the media created nonsense that our ancestors were busy seeking death. You don’t have to seek death, it is issued with each birth, the one unbroken promise we are given in this life. Our ancestors knew that this was true, accepted it, and got on with the business of living. You don’t have to seek it, it will find you on its own. You shouldn’t waste time running from it, you will just die tired.
Wyrd weaves as it will, and not all of its weavings are weal, some are woe. Many bad things happen, that is simply life, there is no judgement implied in them, they are simply things that happen. We have one life, and in that life many things will happen, some of them terrible, some of them simply unpleasant, but if life goes on past that point, it will be faced with whatever changes those bad moments left us with. This was simply the way it was, there was no sense getting worked up about it. Life goes on, make the best of it.
Some are born with an ill-woven birth, and spend their entire life with a genetic or developmental disability. This obviously makes the challenges ahead of them both harder and in some cases, different than they would have faced with a less woefully birth-wyrd. Other events in our lives will take from us much of our strength, leave us with pain or disability (frequently both). This is not the end of our life, nor the end of our ability to win honour, glory, success. This obviously does change the nature of our challenge.
If you were to ask our ancestors, they would cheerfully admit that being born in perfect health was best. Further, they would agree being good looking, strong, well spoken, wealthy would also be good, and lucky better yet. They did not hold all outcomes equal, nor all starting points the same. It was good to be perfectly prepared for all the challenges ahead, but regardless of how prepared you are, the challenges are coming, and you will face them with what you have. To them, life was an opportunity to build worth. While starting in a more advantageous position was desired, regardless of where you started from, they expected you to continue to strive to improve; to build your worth, until your thread was cut, and the final interplay between your will and your wyrd was measured.
The lame on a horse is as able as a man with two strong legs, a man without a hand may still tend the cattle (which was the basis of wealth and status for much of our folk’s existence). A deaf man will not be discomfited by the roars of the enemy, or the screams of the dying. No matter what the degree of the disability, it is better than nothing, which is death, and still leaves you the ability to build your worth, to meet your challenges.
Hamaval 71 is that most military of all sentiments, “Suck it up, buttercup”. It tells all who hear it if they are not dead, they are not beaten, now get back up and resume your duties.
I have heard recently some extremely odd opinions on this from a Tribalist perspective. The implications from what I can understand are that the person whose wyrd has been woven to leave them disabled or disadvantaged is expected to simply “try harder” to “pull up their socks” and achieve equivalent results to fulfil their duty to the tribe, and to do so entirely on their own, so as not to burden the tribe.
I am not sure what kind of comic book this sort of tribe exists in, but it certainly never survived in a real world environment like our North. Our ancestors did not simply let you succeed or fail on your own, for the tribe as a unit succeeded or failed together. The tribe would indeed invest to allow you to contribute to the limit of your abilities, but they would do so with a realistic appreciation of those abilities.
The shield-wall is perhaps the best known image of our folk in modern times; equally important was the boar’s head or swine array of the battle charge, but in either case the fundamentals of our folks way of war was based on one particular truth. My shield is not mine, it is the tribes. My shield does not ward my body, it wards the line. Frequently I will uncover my body to cover my shield mate, trusting that my other shield mate will do the same for me. We do not succeed or fail as splendid isolated individuals, but as a group.
Further to this image, if you could not carry the shield or have the strength to stand in the line, you had no place being there. You could contribute in other ways, but if you put yourself in the shield wall as if you were as capable as everyone else, but knowing you were not, you have harmed the tribe.
No one ever asked you to overcome the disadvantage of not being able to lift a shield and join the shield wall. That is foolish. You would be expected to seek challenges you could overcome and prove your worth in those. Likewise if you had poor distance vision you would not be advised to train as an archer and hunter, where you could only fail, when you could train as a swordsman, and carpenter where your close vision was perfectly suited.
Scholars may debate Ivar Boneless and whether he was literally carried into battle unable to walk, to lead his troops; they do not debate that Governor Frontenac of Quebec literally was carried into battle at 77 to lead a punitive expedition against the Onondagas in the 1690’s. No longer able to lift a blade or musket, his mind and will were still without peer and served him and Quebec in their war with the English and Iroquois.
The tribal experience of our ancestors understood collective survival much the same way as the shield wall looked at protection. You did not simply protect your own skin, but you protected your own folk as the most effective way to protect yourself in the long run. As communities we came together to deal with problems, as a community we came together to face our enemies, and as a community we pooled our resources to help those whose wyrd had woven them a nasty tangle. Wyrd weaves as it will, and it weaves most folks a tangle at one point or another, and it is to all of our best interest to see our people not be lost to those tangles. We are our brother’s keeper, as our family rises and falls together.
The nations founded by those proud Northmen and peerless Northwomen have one inevitable oddity; they all embrace socialism reguarding health care and education. Tribalism is not succeed or die on your own, for you owe the tribe all your ability. Tribalism is succeed or fail together, for collectively we are strong, wise, and harmonious; even if frequently every individual in the collective needs assistance in one or more of those particulars.
Soldiers are perhaps the last vestiges of feudal society, we understand how fealty works. When you put your hands between your lords and swear to obey their laws and will, to uphold their interests and defend their honour, the lord swears in return to advance your interests in turn to the limits of his ability (1). Salutes are an example of this reciprocal duty, as the junior rank may offer the salute, but the senior returns it as honour goes to both the senior and the collective he represents, but also in return to the junior, the individual. The individual has a duty to the tribe, and from that duty flows the return duty of the tribe to the individual. There can be NO duty to the tribe if there is not duty of the tribe to the individual. There can be no obligation to the lord, if the lord bears no obligation to his man. It is a reciprocal gifting relationship, as Heathens know form the foundation of sustainable frithful society.
You are expected to contribute to the limit of your capability. A wise society and tribe understands that your contribution will be greater if you are given the tools to use your abilities to their greatest return. Society then and now was imperfect, some individuals do not hold up there end of any bargain, and there will always be abuses. This is why we have people to deal with each other on an individual basis after all. There have always been those who take more than they give, but our society exists and thrives because they are not the majority. Most seek to give in balance to what they take, and the best give so much more than they ever ask in return that society, as a whole, thrives when we do give each the ability to contribute to the maximum of their abilities, whatever they are. Wyrd weaves as it will, but we do not lie helpless before our wyrd.
Things happen, many of them bad, we deal with it and move on. Wyrd gives us a starting point, but that is not where we end, nor is wyrd the only active agency in our lives. We are a people, a folk. We live in communities that have vast human and other resoruces. Wyrd gave you a set of circumstances and the community a set of resources. Between the two you may find that the lame will find a more modern version of the horse, the deaf may find both hearing aids, speech translation tools, and training for careers in which their lack of hearing is a non issue.
Hamaval 71
- The lame rides a horse, | the handless is herdsman,
The deaf in battle is bold;
The blind man is better | than one that is burned,
No good can come of a corpse.
Rough translation: Suck it up buttercup, you lived. Now take a good look at your resources, your challenges, and focus yourself on making the best you can out of the hand you are dealt. Your victories are there to be taken. If you are not dead, you are not beaten, nor are you done. If you live this way, then when you are dead you are still not beaten.
mainer74 
Pingback: “Suck it up Buttercup” | facingthefireswithin
Inspired!
Reblogged this on Howlingfire's Blog and commented:
Another inspiring article by Mainer74. Just when I needed to hear it.