Currency that cannot be traded, and cannot be earned in any other way. Act5

Do Compensation and recognition render smaller deeds great by proximity?

How can we learn about the value of currency in a virtual world where the points will be pyrric reminders that only 10 have mentors, only 6 go to DC for the big EVOKE Conference?

What is this Informal Value Transfer System, called EVOKE? Not Hawala, fei ch'ien, phoe kuan--no chits to turn in for cold, hard cash at the end of the journey.

Is there a happily ever after, a pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow, a movie ticket where the good guys win in the end?

Can we trade the currency of conviction, of heart, of soul? Can inspiration and innovation combine to make a greater contribution than the original participants? This platform is new to me, and I don't know the value of the coin which will come in return.

What are the economics of trading in convictions?

What is the value of a power point?

(@ Nick H, sorry--I love to sing, so, here comes some more drama--just can't help it. My "other" life intrudes...I haven't crossed vocations before, but it seems like an appropriate time.... :P ...)

(@ Ning--I am getting wordy again. Please, please don't exise me again... I only like the cold when there is snow, and I am just a sidekick in this blockbuster...)

If Pan had had a spotlight, closeup camera and theme music, could he have been the herculean, bad-boy anti-hero of Evoke (played by whom--Bruce Willis?) to pair with a.v. Kohsy's uber-phoenix of the wise statesman (Sean Connery??)--and MAK--the willowy Jolie? Bongu--the irrepressible Will Smith? Ms. Jane McG? Herself, or played by Julia Roberts?

With EVOKE the MOVIE, everyone could be cast, all 15,431 of us, Hollywood, or Bollywood, or avatar-style, and each of us could have a title credit at the end...

That would be great--a flashy Block-buster Movie, featuring: conspiracy, myth, legend, passion, betrayal, and, best of all, you get to save the world at the end...

Or, what? Try to grow a better community garden, and hope for the sequel?
The price of admission to Evoke was quite reasonable; I guess everyone has to decide if the costs of keeping their seats are reasonable as well. If a greater good is achieved through our collective roles in this epic, maybe we can all, as in Henry V, be carried to victory at the end of the day.

The EVOKATION of the courageous spirit of Henry V, of all strong medieval leaders--was beautifully penned by Shakespeare. They might not have been sustainable, but they tried hard, in their way. In defending their lands and their beliefs, they ensured that the coin of the realm remained wh*** and trust-worthy.

They ruled through the strength of their convictions; they defended their freedoms and fought for their lands with the sword and the belief that the sorcerer's stone could be found, that the battle for the world could be won, that the umayah of the Phoenix could rise again.

I don't know the answers of how to win evoke, or of how bravely to survive not winning. I don't know the ultimate value of Evoke power points.

I do know one of the greatest EVOKATIONS of literature is found in the centuries-old pages of Shakespeare's Henry V. Of course, it is "easy" to give the heroic monologue when you are the king, or the top-billing star, but, then, everyone expects the Star to win, or to die trying. So a few heroic words and a great, lighted close-up are only fair.

You don't have to read it all if you don't want to, but it speaks of the values of gold, faith, honor, brotherhood... currencies of the heart, and the soul. And the big finish is great...

...Enter the KING.

WESTMORELAND: O that we now had here

But one ten thousand of those men in England

That do no work to-day!

KING: What's he that wishes so?

My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;

If we are mark'd to die, we are enow

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.

By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,

Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;

It yearns me not if men my garments wear;

Such outward things dwell not in my desires.

But if it be a sin to covet honour,

I am the most offending soul alive.

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.

God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour

As one man more methinks would share from me

For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!

Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

Let him depart; his passport shall be made,

And crowns for convoy put into his purse;

We would not die in that man's company

That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors,

And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,

And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

But he'll remember with advantages,

What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,

Familiar in his mouth as household words-

Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-

Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered-

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now-a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.