[Ansteorra] Cookies and merit badges

[Morgan Buchanan]

The only thing that is potentially "wrong" about the system lies in how the humans who work within it do so.

Ideally, here is how it goes.  

A person wants to do something because they like doing it.  They do it.  People appreciate it.  They get thanked and rewarded.

There are just so many places there where humans goof it up and the system gets blamed.

The person might not just want to do it, they want to be ASKED to do it.  And we'd all rather want to say "thank you" than *HAVE* to say "Please" when we're all working toward a common goal.  (Note this doesn't mean "please" is bad or undesirable, only the compulsion to HAVE to say it in order to get things done.)

Likewise, rather than having everyone WANT to thank someone and give them recogntion, some folks do things in anticipation of getting a reward.  It's a bit akin to the image of the bellhop with his hand couched palm up after setting your bags down in your room.  And I believe that's where the negative connotation of "cookie" comes into play.  Your dog doesn't sit for a bone for the love of sitting, he does it so you give him the bacon flavored treat.  :)  I think as a whole, our society would rather give out the treats to the people who are doing things out of joy.

That being said, the desire for recognition and advancement isn't a bad thing.    Recognition, particularily the peerages or WSA, is in the final analysis, an admission by those we have already recognized as the best at what we do that we we too belong, that we too are doing it right.  I like to draw an extreme example.  A serial killer often in his own mind "knows" he's doing right.  Not many agree, however.  LIkewise for example, a fighter may, in his own mind, see himself as being knightly regardless of the fact that the Chivlary doesn't see him that way for a variety of reasons nor has any king ever dubbed him.  Sure, he COULD be right and they could all be wrong, but the odds are not in favor of that.

It's a fine balancing act.  Precious few, perhaps noone, has ever done it without a misstep.  But we can strive.

Morgan
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jean Paul de Sens 
  To: Ansteorra List 
  Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2006 10:22 PM
  Subject: [Ansteorra] Cookies and merit badges


  Due to the long drive home this afternoon, Gilyan and I landed upon the subject of "cookies and merit badges" and wondered at the negative connotation associated with such things.  So we're wondering:

  What's wrong with merit badges?  What about the system is offensive and/or wrong?  

  Jean Paul

  P.S., please try to keep the "I like chocolate chip" responses to a minimum as I'm genuinely curious about this question.
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