Why Do We Post? LO12269

Jack Latimer (jlatimer@ridgecrest.ca.us)
Wed, 29 Jan 1997 20:57:09 -0700

Replying to LO12045

Chau Nguyen writes:

>I believe that we are product of greed . Posting is an intellectual
>investment. Once we posted, we are looking for the intellectual ROI. Who
>would wants to invest without any returns?

I believe Chau makes an important point about posting being an
intellectual investment for most of us, and we are somewhat disappointed
if our investments draw little return. While Chau attributes this to
greed, I suggest that it comes from our basic needs to feel competent and
to belong, a couple of needs Maslow discusses, that are not far below the
surface in most of us. We feel competent if people respond to our
posting-that what we said may have been important enough to someone to
respond. We feel like we belong if we are responded to and accepted by
the group - maybe that puts us closer to the much debated inner circle if
there is such a thing. At least it seems to create the perception that
there is an inner circle. I like the idea of an inner circle of the 2000
or so people who all belong to this list in some capacity, none more nor
less important than any other.

Chau continues:

>I was taught by my parents that the joy of giving comes from the heart of
>the giver and has nothing to do with the receiver. When you give away
>something, that is a gift to yourself, enjoy that moment, don't wait for
>the reaction from the receiver.

I appreciate Chau's thoughts about considering a posting a gift,
particularly if freely given without expectations of a return. I confess
this is a difficult state of mind to achieve. Most of us are taught to
express thanks in some way for a gift, but oftentimes we give with the
thought of some kind of return gift (in this case, return postings), and
we may be disappointed if the return is not what we expected. But Chau is
right, we cannot control the response of the receiver, so if we learn to
just give of our thoughts, not expecting a particular response, then we
may be delighted when a response is received. And, we are not
disappointed if the response is not what we expected. The responder, in
turn, has no control over how we receive his response.

Jack Latimer
jlatimer@ridgecrest.ca.us

-- 

jlatimer@ridgecrest.ca.us (Jack Latimer)

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>