Keep hope alive

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Sometimes, it's the little things that make me the happiest. Many of us with the nontrepreneurial sprit devote significant amounts of time into activities that have zero chance for payoff. I'm not talking only about direct payoff. I'm talking about zero chance of secondary payoff too. Sure, there's always whuffie to be had. And building whuffie is a Good Thing. But for many of us, the things that take much of our time build whuffie in ways that make it difficult to detect even the slightest amount of measurable payoff.

Sure, we get accolades. Sometimes even press. But it's not like the things we're helping to achieve are all that extraordinary. If they were to up and vanish, the world would not come to an end. Far from it. In fact, when some of us have thrown in the towel, many didn't care. They've simply gone back to what they did before. Reverted to the things that were available to them prior to our entry. Things that, perhaps, had more support.

But sometimes... the things we start refuse to die. We try our best to abandon them, yet they persist. A small but vocal section rises up, refusing to take our abandonment lying down. And what are we do to? We acquiesce. We realize that the community that we so recently imagined cared little for the marks we made instead cared deeply. Deeper than we ever thought possible.

And with that acquiescence comes acceptance. And new found purpose. We realize that the project -- the non-monetizable project that sucks countless hours -- shall not die. For the community is not ready for it to die. So we persevere. The community has spoken, and their demands must be met. Because in the end, we live and die by the acceptance of the community. It's not quite natural selection, but it'll pass for it in 2009.

Thanks for coming back, tr.im.

What? You thought I was talking about something else?