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Hello Everyone:
Figured it was time to put out an editorial message from the AC. It's been a little while and frankly, between the holidays, the election, and the continuing COVID issue, I think all of us have been experiencing a bit of "real-life fatigue". Does that about sum it up for you? Because it does for me.
2020 was a difficult year for all of us to be sure. Where it pertains to the hobby, it caused the cancellation of several EBUFU events. For all of us who do this, it eliminated the escape from the real world we thought we would have. We were all hoping that 2021 would be different and we could get back to "normal", right?
Well, here we are in 2021. COVID is still there and on top of that, we are dealing with strong political winds in the United States. This has re-inflamed some of the issues that have driven a wedge between friends, family and as it relates to the authentic hobby, between some of us. If any of you follow my personal Facebook feed, you will see that I have my own opinions about politics and I'm sure you do as well. Occasionally, those opinions collide. I don't want to come off here as someone who hasn't been guilty of expressing my political beliefs, because, well I have, but that doesn't change what I think about the people in this hobby.
What I really want to say here today is that despite our political differences, 2021 is a year that we have been looking forward to to get back out and do what we love. There is a stellar list of events this year. While I can't speak for each event organizer, I have not heard from any organizers who plan to cancel their events this year and without getting too far into the weeds of modern politics (and COVID), I hope all events move forward because we need something to rally around and for all of our sakes, it should be the hobby, shouldn't it?
I will say this right now. Regardless of your personal politics, or mine or our opinions about every issue that crops up on social media on a daily basis, for me personally, my first allegiance is to my brothers and sisters in the hobby. PERIOD. We can't control what goes on outside our community, but we CAN control what happens between us. It is up to all of us to make 2021 a year to remember... or we can allow what is going on outside affect us. I think that is a counter-productive attitude.
It has been my experience that the best way to handle negative energy is to take that energy and focus it into something productive. In other words, build instead of destroying. Come together for a common goal instead of turning on each other. As I mentioned eariler, I am just as guilty of expressing myself as anyone, but I always default to one thing. To paraphrase the movie Stripes, "We were all stupid enough to get into reenacting."
So, my main point today is that this year, you will be seeing the AC actively promoting 2021 events, just as we always have. You will se a concerted effort to promote research, and information about the Civil War and ONLY the Civil War. Hopefully, the event organizers hear this message and get the machines started back up for this year. We have an opportunity to make this year memorable OR we can allow outside factors to pull us apart. We just went through a terrible year in 2020. How 'bout we rally in 2021 and concentrate our efforts into building the best year possible? How about we give ourselves more to look forward to and get out and see our friends in person again? How about we kick ass in 2021?
Having said all of that, the list of 2021 events is at the bottom of the forums, in the event folder and on the front page here: https://www.authentic-campaigner.com. If you are attending one of these events, get registered! If you are leading a company for one of these events, get your men registered! And if you are organizing one of these events, post your updates in your event folder at the AC and we will blast them out to the masses. Let's flood Facebook with things to look forward to in our hobby. Let's make 2021 a year to remember.... not another year to forget.
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