As those who know me will have noted, I've tended to keep a low profile lately. I log in to SL from time to time to pay tier and I've caught up with old friends now and then. When the Rathaus renovation was under discussion I quietly logged in and checked out the old building and the new one (the new one is a fine replacement and the acknowledgement of Kendra Bancroft's contribution was sensitively done).
The other day I took notice of the email about the elections and voted once more in our Representative Assembly elections. I've done this in every election that we have run (and every RL election too). It's something I see as a civic duty and it's a large part of our raison d'être. Then I thought "why not check out the forums?" - which I also do to keep an eye on what's going on in our little virtual community.
Well, I was intrigued when I saw from the Minutes that the RA had decided to award the Order of Anzere to a number of citizens. So I clicked on the Transcript to find out who the lucky recipients were, to see this:
"[11:49] Gaius Tiberius Curio (guillaume.mistwalker): I motion to award Delia LAke, Callipygian Christensen, Lilith Ivory, Arria Perault, Jon Seattle, Pip Torok, Sonja Strom, and Patroklus Murakami membership in the Order of Anzere."
Well, that was quite a surprise! I was thrilled to see so many deserving citizens put forward and humbled to be in such company.
This was a lovely initiative to revive a tradition we have let lapse a bit in recent years. It has completely made my day and I can't tell you how much it means to me to even have been thought of in connection with such an honour.
It's another reminder of what a strong culture we have developed over our history. We are, and have always been, a relatively small community in a part of cyberspace which only occasionally registers in the mainstream consciousness. But we have a culture and a history that would rival many a real world nation. It is wonderful to be a part of that.
Thank you so much, this was such a lovely thing to do and so unexpected.