Kiss

Another book you’ll want to invest a walk to the local library in is Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. The book is beautiful, in every aspect, but what draws me today is a small bit that has tied itself to software (for me). A character is writing to her sister about the pants she is making as a gift: “Every stitch a kiss.”

It’s obviously important to love what you do. But how many of us put that much love into our writing? I know that many do, and I can instantly tell by using their software. This community being one. DJB’s software being more. Given the opportunity to view the source code, the love is even more apparent.

And that is how I would like to approach my work. “Every line a kiss.” When I put that much of myself into a creation, it becomes a mirror, and therefore can’t help but reflect greatness. This is true of us all.

Social Awareness

When we become more aware of ourselves through our very creations, we begin to notice the blaring connections to others on the periphery. Which is why it’s important that you spend your invaluable time on raising other people up around you. An overly healthy network enriches yourself.

Look at your creation, look at yourself, ask how you can be applied to the water crisis. How you can help abused children. Not far off a goal. For instance, I have a feeling that the trust metric behind this community could very well be used to create a trusting safe-house network for those who are abused to seek shelter and compassion. This ranges from children to prostitutes and women trapped in the pornography industry under the threat of more violence. Can you apply the code to something as real as that?

We waste a lot of time. We waste a lot of resources. It’s time, given that our work lives are readily apparent and in the open, that our everyday life becomes the same. An open source, free life, raising everyone up to the same level. Think of that.