Last month i asked you to take a good look at yourself and evaluate the type of image you portray. i asked you to not only evaluate yourself physically, but mentally and emotionally as well.

How many of you made it through all the questions? How many of you decided about halfway through that this was getting much more serious about the lifestyle than you were interested in being?
How many thought that it was all well and good if you lived where there was an established group who still followed the "Old Guard" ways and would recognize all that stuff, but your community isn't like that, so why bother? What if you're female, or interested in some other protocol style? How does all that relate to me?

Basically, the questions had nothing to do with Old Guard, male, female, gay, straight or any other label you want to use. It has to do with being a submissive and being the best submissive you can be.

Being submissive isn't something you turn off and on like a light bulb. It is a very basic, driving force of your personality. It is something to be nurtured and refined. It requires constant feeding, evaluation and growth. But before any of that can happen, there is one decision you must make. You must decide that being a submissive is who you are and what you want to be.

For some of you, that may not be an easy decision to make. After all, submissives are second-class citizens, with no minds of their own, having to be told what to do and when to do it. They are nothing but little sex toys, to be used and then tossed away when the Dominant tires of them. Right? Absolutely not!

It takes intelligence to be a submissive. Someone who can motivate themselves to see what needs to be done and to do it. As i mentioned last month, a good submissive will know everything there is to know about their Dominant. Their wants, their needs, their likes and dislikes. They will know what their Dominant wants or needs, sometimes even before the Dominant realizes it him or herself. A mindless person could never do that.

It takes a caring person to be a submissive. Someone whose basic desire is to make the person they are with happy. To make them feel like they are the most important person on the face of the earth. Can a mindless person do that? Not hardly.

It takes a person who can constantly challenge a Dominant to continue their education in the various fetishes. To be willing and eager to try new types of play. To expand the limits or intensity of the areas they are already familiar with so that play doesn't become boring or routine for them or their Dominant. A simple sex toy could never do that.

Second-class citizen? Not to a Dominant who knows the value, appreciates the gift, and cherishes the special gift that only a submissive can give. For what a submissive has to offer is just that. A gift. The most precious gift anyone can give. The gift of themselves.

It takes a very special person to give that gift. It takes a very special person to be a submissive. i take great pride in who i am and what i have to offer. i take great pride in knowing that i was able to find a Master who appreciates my gifts, and encourages me to grow, not only as a submissive, but as a person as well. i'm proud to be a submissive and you should be too.

So, ready to make that decision? Then go back and look at the questions from last month again. And remember, if you don't take pride in yourself, why should anyone else take pride in you?