Sometimes people slip through the cracks, lost in the annals of a unit’s history, their achievements forgotten. This is something I would be positively remiss if I didn’t correct. Hence I write to you about Jades Sadow. Her last promotion was in 2008. Just a little over five years ago, and in that time, holy moly, she’s got five pages of awards on her DB history page. This includes mentoring somebody all the way to Dark Jedi Knight. In addition, she has collectively around a year of sub-unit leadership, including Aedile and Quaestor in ’08 and ’09.
More than that though, since I first joined the DB, and was sorted into CNS, I have seen her volunteer for most anything she can get her hands on, offer help whenever possible, and in general, remain a rock solid constant. We, as a Clan, have failed long enough in giving Jade what she deserves, so please, consider my Apprentice Sister for promotion to Krath Epis.
Raziel, 2014-01-23 17:30:37 UTC
I was going to start this with a story about a tortoise and a hare, but I’m sure you’ve all heard that one already. But that story teaches an important lesson, about how you don’t always need to be the one to get to the finish line first -- and sometimes if you try to, you won’t end up getting their first anyway. Jade may not run fast like the hare, but if Aesop’s fable taught us all anything, it’s that you don’t need to be fast, and that there is nothing wrong with being the slow and steady tortoise, because not only do they get there eventually, but often still manage to beat those who burn themselves out, never to reach the end at all.
Jade is like the tortoise, and despite how that image sounds, this is a good thing.
Having been here an eternity, Jade is one of the oldest members of the Dark Brotherhood (and when she reads this, I hope she does not take that sentence the wrong way!). No, she has never been on the Dark Council, no she has not been in a Summit position for a number of years, and yes, her activity has risen and fallen, like the crashing tides of the sea, or the waxing and waning of the moon -- the latter of these two analogies probably being the one she, the authoress who I know enjoys writing published vampire fiction, probably would prefer to see herself as.
Is this a bad thing? The short -- or perhaps in the context, the long -- answer is: no.
In the end, slow and steady wins the race, and Jade will have been where she is now for six years in another week’s time. Yet, Jade has never been far away. If she had drifted that far from the Dark Brotherhood, then she wouldn’t keep coming back, time and time again, to take part, to interact, to remain a member of that community that she has called a home -- albeit on and off -- for potentially longer than some of this club’s youngest members have drawn breath.
But that isn’t why Jade deserves a promotion. Sitting idle, and inactive, does not net rewards alone. No, what has made Jade worthy is how -- even now, after all these many years -- she remains one of those dependable people, who when called upon, still reads her email, still answers the call, still returns to give back to those members today what she herself has gotten out of the Dark Brotherhood for more than a decade now. When I look at her dossier, it may not be filled with the avalanche of medals throughout 2013 that I have usually written about on other promotion recommendations, but instead I see a small trickle, here and there, on and off, over such a prolonged, excessive, exhaustive period of time... that it genuinely intimidates me when I reflect on how long she, or I, or many others of us, have been here.
And, this is what is important, how we still are.
And it is because of people like Jade that we all still are. Because without that community, without that family of members who remain here, what other reason would we have to stay...?
Far too often, that simple, reliable, consistent presence is not given the reward it deserves. The mother or sister who her family can always rely on to be there, or the family member that does not run away, does not leave, does not go off and do something else, or emigrate and never is heard from again, those bonds, those ties, they bind society together. And, exactly the same way, they bind this club together, and are at the heart of it, just as much as they are at the heart of any family in the real world.
This is why, when I look at everything -- and I mean EVERYTHING -- that Jade has done since her last promotion, and that after all is what every successive promotion is about, I end up seeing that same tally of medals and activity and dedication that I see in others, just unlike the many hares that rush about hurrying to their next award, with Jade she has simply been prepared to take her time, slow and steady like the tortoise, not having rushed.
There comes a point where this has to be recognised, and after six years and still being a part of this club and its family, I feel it is only right that we thank Jade for still being here, and for the many things she has does over the years -- and which, as a direct result of how long it has been, are consequently much too long to ever cover in comprehensive detail!
Well done Jade, and I hope you always continue to be a part for the next six years too.
, 2014-01-23 17:31:01 UTC