Ode to the X-Pattern stroke
Your razor, your hones, your shave, your face, your strokes, your experience, your enjoyment (hopefully).
Glen makes some good points. I'd follow them with the reason many of us are here. I enjoy doing things the hard way...I believe this makes me more robust and able to cope with challenges. Let us not forget that many men today learned to be ignorant about most things shaving as a result of the past couple generations being handed easier ways to shave.
This notion of turning soap into lather and using a bare blade to groom one's facial hair used to be so common place. Now it's fairly rare because people found easier ways to do it that worked almost as well. In this regard I do not look to simplify maintenance and honing...I'd rather challenge myself regularly;)