Master Sergeant...The fact that it's a challenge and a responsibility doesn't negate it being a gift for One to be worthy of first. To say, "There is a great deal more to the D/s relationship than the servitude of the sub to the Dom." almost sounds like you may think that your half of the dynamic is belittled and not given enough credit? To the contrary, I think it deserves quite a lot of credit...but it also sounds as if that statement may be belittling servitude as well. Does that mean that girl gives you her "servitude".. and then that's it? She's given all she has to give and there's nothing left for her to accomplish? I wonder sometimes whether some understand the extent of what "servitude" entails. It is an ongoing thing, and encompasses so many ways of being of "service". There is a reason that submission is not for the weak. Is her servitude and submission any less valuable than your Dominance? No. In my opinion they are both a gift. Not only do I want to know that the Man I serve is worthy of my service.. but I want to know that he deems me worthy of serving Him. His Dominance is also a gift, and one that should never been taken for granted.

Desperado.. Not only do I consider submission and Dominance, both, to be a gift.. but I would argue that, even without each other, they mean quite a bit more than "very little". I am slave. I am not slave because I jumped up one day and decided that it looked interesting. It is, innately, who and what I am. I am not any less a slave (or submissive) if I am alone. Does an artist cease to be an artist, simply because they are not currently holding a paint brush? If I were unowned, I would still be slave... it is who and what I am. Being unowned would simply mean that I currently have no Master/Dominant to serve. It doesn't even mean that I cease to grow in my submission, because to learn is to grow.. and I grew in leaps and bounds before I met my Master. Without the Dominance of Another my submission would still mean so much that I would still be looking for ways to nurture it (to learn and grow), thereby making myself an even an even better "me" for the One who would be worthy of my submission.