Love. Faith. Family. Friendship. Money. Fame. Control. Influence.
All of these are key types of power, but for me, they don’t hold a candle to the highest power I know.
True power is service.
(Pope Francis said that. He’s a pretty good guy, in my book.)
I am here to serve others. The wake I leave is determined by how many people I have touched and brought kindness and solidarity.
When I took over the House, I agreed to certain principles that Lauby and Dethtron felt were important.
The biggest was that the House of Paincakes was to serve and support the tabletop/gaming & hobby community.
This is an important thing to do- for reasons far beyond “it feels good, man”. Being the backing of a group or idea allows that collective a way to build and develop. Without the pillars, Houses could not grow and flourish.
Support means to hold up or serve as a foundation or prop for- holding up this hobby and the people in it is one of my strongest passions. It’s what I do at my store as much as I possibly can, it’s what I do in the board game design competition, and it’s what I am doing here.
Or at least what I WAS doing here.
It’s been over a year since I have consistently done any sort of work for the House of Paincakes, and that’s a terrible shame. I had a passion for writing and discussing our hobby that I thought would never end- until it did. My interest in gaming is on a decline at the moment, and the community here is suffering for it.
There’s more power out there, but it’s not mine to give at the moment.
It might come back to me at some point- it’s happened before. I go through cycles where I am not involved, interested or innovating- and then at some point, my “mojo” comes back to me.
It can be a few weeks or months, or it can be years. I feel pretty strongly that the community of bloggers, hobbyists, painters and gamers deserves a whole lot better than a hope that maybe THIS is the week that Lo gets her shit together and the House starts producing regular content again.
I have ideas of what the community deserves, and at the moment, I am not delivering it. I am not recruiting new writers, or writing my own articles, or generating conversations. I’m not even paying as much attention to what happens here as I should, and I am the only person to blame for those failings.
I’m not living up to my standards, nor am I enforcing them. I expect certain standards from writers and contributors here at the House. I haven’t made that clear, nor have I upheld them to folks around here. All of you are worth more than a half assed effort, which is the best I can manage at the moment.
This isn’t a cry of pity or woe is me. This is something I’ve been sitting on for weeks- and very likely longer.
I am not making the decision today, but the likelihood that the House may shut its doors is very high, and I want you to be aware of it.
I am not serving you anymore, and I am not okay with that situation. I need to either step away or do something about it. I haven’t decided which yet- but I know myself and my situation. I’m being as honest as I can that I don’t know how or when that could change.
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