<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The only thing that is potentially "wrong" about
the system lies in how the humans who work within it do so.</FONT></DIV><FONT
face=Arial size=2>
<DIV><BR>Ideally, here is how it goes. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>A person wants to do something because they like doing it. They do
it. People appreciate it. They get thanked and rewarded.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There are just so many places there where humans goof it up and the system
gets blamed.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It's a fine balancing act. Precious few, perhaps noone, has ever done
it without a misstep. But we can strive.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Morgan</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jeanpauldesens@gmail.com href="mailto:jeanpauldesens@gmail.com">Jean
Paul de Sens</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=ansteorra@Ansteorra.ORG
href="mailto:ansteorra@Ansteorra.ORG">Ansteorra List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, May 21, 2006 10:22 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Ansteorra] Cookies and merit
badges</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>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:<BR><BR>What's wrong with merit badges? What about the system
is offensive and/or wrong? <BR><BR>Jean Paul<BR><BR>P.S., please try to
keep the "I like chocolate chip" responses to a minimum as I'm genuinely
curious about this question.</BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>