Re: Giving TW help: Are we training our replacements?

["Gary S. Callison" <huey -at- interaccess -dot- com>]

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004, pnewman1 -at- optonline -dot- net (Peter)
> Bruce Byfield wrote:
> | In my experience, doing a professional favor is never wasted. You don't 
> | always get the favor back from the one you help (and there are some 
> | selfish nithlings in the local writing and high-tech communities, let me 
> | tell you), but you'll often find that you get a favor back from someone 
> | else who hears of your decency. One way or another, it comes back to you.
> I agree with what you say, but to the extent you help in anticipation of 
> being helped in exchange, I do not. The willingness to help others in a 
> chosen profession is one of the hallmarks of a professional.

Call it enlightened self-interest then. Personally, I'm a firm believer
in "Cast your bread upon the waters, and come dinner time, you're not
gonna have much bread left, and what there is will probably be all soggy
and smell like that manky fish, seaweed, and diesel fuel smell that
everything on the pier smells like". You offer help when you can, knowing
that many times you will get nothing in return but dirty looks, because, I
swear, that guy thinks he knows everything, and he's always so damn smug.

And every now and then, the universe surprises you, and somebody helps back.

I think this is behaviour worth encouraging.

-- 
Huey