Druid expectations

In my working life, I’m dealing with a vast array of people from different backgrounds. I notice I have a very interesting double-standard, depending on whether or not I’m dealing with someone who self-identifies as a Bard or Druid.

I don’t expect much in the way of personal honesty from most people. It’s not our culture, often it’s not needed, and people put brave faces on things, or over-egg, or pretend that they can, and bullshit me in assorted ways, some more well-meaning than others. In normal circumstances I can and do just get on with that. Give me a Bard or a Druid, and I expect Truth and Honour (definitely with capital letters). Someone taking those titles and not trying their best to be straight with me, I do not respond well to.

There are paralleles. Share a story with me, and I’ll make warm, encouraging noises. Tell me you want to be an author, and you’ll get a different kind of feedback. Tell me you are a professional author and I will be looking at your work to make a professional judgement about it.

Druid and Bard are not unlike professional titles. What they denote, for me, is a commitment to having certain standards around how you live and behave. What those standards are will be personal, but Truth and Honour, as you understand them will be a part of that mix. Adopt those titles, and I will see you in a different light. I am much less tolerant of bullshit from Druids than I am from other folk, in much the same way that I’m much more tolerant of forced rhymes and dodgy scanning from people who do not claim the title of poet.