THE HUMANITY OF CAPITALISM LO9273

John Constantine (rainbird@trail.com)
Tue, 20 Aug 1996 09:09:35 -0700

Replying to LO9250 --

Carol,

I enjoyed what you had to say. I would offer only that one often finds
when doing what you love to do, often achievement, recognition ,
responsibility and advancement often follow.

If one loves people and loves to play the violin, the sheer joy of being
around people and playing for others enhances the skill level, improves
performance capability, and makes others happy as well as oneself. If
playing for a wedding provides a piece of wedding cake, what a bonus! But
the sheer joy found in a glassmaker, a sculptor, a violin-maker, or
master carpenter, etc., etc., cannot be replaced by money. The tragedy is
that the pursuit of money regardless of what one loves to do, is
preferable to this joy.

These are not incompatible notions, in my view, but they are made to seem
that way in our current culture and educational system. People are
"educated" to fill a niche which may provide "suitable compensation".
There was (and perhaps still is) an overabundance of doctors; before it
was teachers, and lawyers, and...

In "Deming" terms, mastery over one's skill provides the ultimate
compensation. It is in playing the game well that one can look back and
see "a game well-played." So, I believe, it is with life.

--

Regards, John Constantine Rainbird Management Consulting http://www.trail.com/~rainbird

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