I'd like to connect two thoughts, one from Bernie DeKoven and the other
from Dave Birren.
Dave said (and said very elegantly and lovingly),
"So I'd say volunteerism is the expression of love. Charity likewise.
I'd also suggest that the desire to extend ourselves to others involves a
recognition that we will benefit as a result, whether through
reinforcement of our own values, or through the expansion of our
boundaries (which is itself a form of reinforcing values - the value of
growth and learning). This involves an underlying learning attitude, a
sense that self-growth is important, and that the extension of self that
love entails is a way to accomplish it."
And Bernie said,
"........it has always been my personal goal to GET PAID TO PLAY."
A straightforward connector for me is the margin/mission cycle. "No
margin, no mission; no mission, no margin" It makes sense to me that I be
a paid volunteer. Then I get to eat while I am able to make a
contribution to someone else's well being. That's what I call delivering
value-added service. As I get paid for this value-added service, I then
have the resources available to reinvest in the community to add more
value (maybe unpaid volunteer creation tasks). In this cycle, I am simply
part of a value creation process that cycles resources in a way that
benefits many people affected by my actions.
In this process, I am functioning in the context of intrinsic motivators
(my basic needs) while satisfying some of them through paid services and
some through unpaid services.
Somehow it seems that dichotomies don't really exist. Everything is
connected in some way through the "Great System."
Later.
Willard
-- Willard Jule <75272.3452@compuserve.com>