Why we do what we do...

I was watching the vid I posted of our recent promotion test and I asked myself, "Why do we put so much time and effort into something that's so utterly useless in modern society?"

Then I thought about it. Is art useless? Is history useless? Is tradition useless? Is beauty useless? Is love? Objectively, there are many things in our lives that have little or no practical purpose. There are many things we learn in school (philosophy, science, art, history) that are useless in most people's lives. Yet if you think about it, these are the things that enrich us, these are the things that give us purpose, that make life worth living.

We, you and I, are immensely privileged. We get to restore something that was lost, recreate something beautiful, something important, something that is a part of our collective cultural heritage, a part of who and what we were, and therefore, who we are today. If you think about it, this is a tremendous honor, because it is such important work. Archaeologists and historians are building medieval castles and villages so people can see what life was like. History professors research the past, reconstructing events, economies and cultures. What we are doing is the same, except that we focus on something more profound, something that defined not only how these people fought and died, but what was in their hearts.

Just think about it for a moment. We belong to a select few, a community of men and women who have pledged their time, their sweat and their blood to recreating a vastly complex system of combat that spanned three centuries and an entire continent. Ain’t that just freakin’ awesome?