Monday, November 12, 2012

Stewarding Our Own Lives

Who Takes Care of the Carer?

 



I tend to like to be very precise when I use words. It brings me comfort to know that I can convey the exact meaning to my reader or hearer that I intend to convey. Its important to me to know they understand what I really mean and that we are on the same wavelength. To me, that is the essence of clear communication. To see that light go off in their eyes when they have an "aha" moment is such a thrill for me.

I also like to know the original meanings of words, where they came from, what period of history they came into common useage and what they meant in their original contexts. Its a bit of a hobby for me. So forgive me, dear reader, if I get a little precise here for a minute. Let's look at the word Steward. It gets bandied about quite a bit but I'm not sure it is understood or used accurately and I want to be sure I do not make that error in the following discourse.


According to Dictionary.com, "Steward," in Online Etymology Dictionary. Source location: Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Steward. Available: http://dictionary.reference.com. Accessed: November 12, 2012:
steward
O.E. stiward, stigweard "house guardian," from stig "hall, pen" + weard "guard." Used after the Conquest as the equivalent of O.Fr. seneschal (q.v.). Meaning "overseer of workmen" is attested from c.1300. The sense of "officer on a ship in charge of provisions and meals" is first recorded mid-15c.; extended

to trains 1906. This was the title of a class of high officers of the state in early England and Scotland, hence meaning "one who manages affairs of an estate on behalf of his employer" (late 14c.). The Scottish form is reflected in Stewart, name of the royal house, from Walter (the) Steward, who married (1315) Marjorie de Bruce, daughter of King Robert. The terminal -t is a Scottish form (late 14c.). Stuart is a Fr. spelling, attested from 1429 and adopted by Mary, Queen of Scots.
Ok, now that we understand our keyword, where it comes from and what it means, let's go a step farther and look at the word it came from, Seneschal. Here I go, getting precise again. Please be patient with me. I promise you will clearly see where I'm going with this very soon.
According to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneschal  


 A seneschal (play /ˈsɛnəʃəl/) was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli. It is equivalent to Slavic stolnik.
The term, first attested in 1350-1400, was borrowed from Anglo-Norman seneschal "steward", from Old Dutch *siniscalc "senior retainer" (attested in Latin siniscalcus (a.d. 692), Old High German senescalh), a compound of *sini- (cf. Gothic sineigs "old", sinista "oldest") and scalc "servant", ultimately a calque of Late Latin senior scholaris "senior guard".
The scholae in the late Roman Empire referred to the imperial guard, divided into senior (seniores) and junior (juniores) units. The captain of the guard was known as comes scholarum.[1] When Germanic tribes took over the Empire, the scholae were merged or replaced with the Germanic king's warband (cf. Frankish-Latin dructis, OHG truht, Old English dryht) whose members also had duties in their lord's household like a royal retinue.[2] The king's chief warbandman and retainer (cf. Old Saxon druhting, OHG truhting, truhtigomo OE dryhtguma, dryhtealdor), from the 5th century on, personally attended on the king, as specifically stated in the Theodosian Code of 413 (Cod. Theod. VI. 13. 1; known as comes scholae).[3] The warband, once sedentary, became first the king's royal household, and then his great officers of state, and in both cases the seneschal is synonymous with steward.
Under the Ancien Régime in southern France, the sénéchal was the king's representative charged with the application of justice and control of administration in the sénéchaussée (administrative district). In northern France, the terms used were bailli and bailliage (bailiwick). According to historian Henry Hallam, the first sénéchaux to receive judicial functions did so by an edict of Philip II of France in 1190, and "acted as the king's lieutenants in his domains", or as a sort of roving ambassador or minister for the throne. See bailli for more information.

Thanks for bearing with me.  From this we see that a Steward or Seneschal held a position of great responsibility and was entrusted with the most important job in the kingdom. The Steward or Seneschal actually made sure everything was managed properly and justly.

Which brings me to my first question. In this day and age who performs that function in our lives?

In this current time period we are expected to do that for ourselves. We are expected to exercise "Personal Responsibility" right?

But how many people are really equipped to fulfill the office of Steward or Senechal of their own lives adequately?

Is there a manual for that?

Who teaches us how to keep  our lives, our households, finances, families, health, emotions, spirituality and social interactions in good order, managed efficiently, effectively and with justice, mercy and kindness???

Under the feudal system children were fostered into other households at an early age where they could learn different customs, be tutored and get an education, or apprentice to a master and learn a trade or be trained for the position they would hold as adults.

They were only returned home to their families when they neared adulthood. Or in some cases they did not return home at all but went on to become journeymen and then masters and to study with other masters or to work in their trade or profession and at some point train their own apprentices or fosterlings.

They were closely supervised and taught how to accept, take on and fulfill gradually more difficult tasks and responsibilities. They were disciplined (sometimes quite harshly) but with an understanding that people learn through trial and error and gained competency and expertise through experience. They were taught to take pride in fine craftsmanship, among other things, including social skills, codes of behavior (depending upon their station and standing.)

Our modern society is vastly different but I wonder if it is better? I think if we look at the things we make we certainly do not see the beauty and craftsmanship that was common in former times.

While we have made tremendous technological and industrial advances I'm not so certain we have excelled in the area of teaching personal stewardship through our current system of education.

Sometimes I think maybe we were better off with the old fosterage and apprenticeship model of the middle ages...I also sometimes think we might have been better served to continue tutoring students in The Classics, and following the old ways of training scholars and tradesmen.

They seemed to learn more, to be more competent and to produce better products..products meant to last hundreds or thousands of years.  Instead of relegating art to its own little corner, craftsmen included art and created beautiful works that served a useful purpose and that we still admire today. They also worked harder, were healthier and in many cases were much happier.  Maybe there is something we can learn from that model that is worth reviving.

I'm not suggesting we entirely chuck our present system or throw the baby out with the bathwater.  But I do think that we should look at what worked from that system of education and combine it with what works in our modern system.  Which brings me back to my original question.

How do we learn to become good stewards of our own lives? Who teaches how to do that? How do we find someone who still knows how to properly steward a life and get them to teach us?  How do we teach out children and grandchildren how to be good stewards of their own lives?

This is especially important for those who are care givers: doctors, nurses, chiropractors, natural and alternative and complementary practitioners, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, firemen, policemen, teachers, and those who care for and teach those with special needs and challenges.

One of the things I most enjoy doing is teaching caregivers and practitioners the methods and importance of caring for themselves properly in order to better care for others.

One of the questions I often see addressed, and pieces of advice given is how to juggle career and family.  What I rarely see added to this is how to steward ones' life as a whole entity. For we are not just workers, husbands, wives or parents. We are all those things and more...so much more. We are whole beings interacting with other whole beings.

Wouldn't it be nice to see our lives as a whole? To see ourselves and everything we do in a more holistic way?

I often wonder what would happen if someone opened an online school to teach people how to view themselves that way and to learn to become good Seneschals of their own lives.  I wonder whether people would benefit from attending real life tutoring that would teach them how to become good stewards of their lives with a curriculum that covered every area of life and taught the "scholars" how to pass that knowledge on to the next generation?

I wonder how that would impact society and culture and how it would change the world.

I wonder whether we could replace the current foster system with something that more closely resembles the medieval fostering model and how children would benefit from that cultural exchange.

I'd love to hear other opinions on this topic and collaborate with others to create a system that educates people in how to be good Seneschals (stewards) of their lives. 

I warmly invite my readers to subscribe to my blog. Which I promise I will write more regularly. I invite comments, suggestions and collaboration.

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