Passion

The engine of open-source coding is passion.   I ask, seriously, it that not obvious?  Kill passion and you kill the project.

I was very struck by this article by Ron Jeffries.  I found it in a collection of writing about software.  I can't help but quote from the end, with passionate agreement:

That’s what I think this movement is about: making a difference. That’s what I want it to be about: making a difference.

Here’s what I try to be, and what I like to find in those around me:

• I want to stay the course with the people who converse with me, not just drift away as if no longer interested.
• I want to argue passionately without rancor, let you call me names in the morning and drink in peace and affection with me that night.
• I want to hold others in the true respect that allows them to be what they are, act like they will, while working as hard as possible to influence them to try other things.
• I want to give my ideas away, confident that my little gift will come back to me manyfold.
• I want to try every way I can to communicate with my colleagues, to get my ideas across and to get their ideas back in return.
• I want to honor the passion that people feel, to honor the strongly held beliefs and ideas of others as much as I honor my own
• I want to crash-test those beliefs and ideas hard against each other, confident that even better ideas will come out of the testing.
• I want to assume that we do this from love, that we care about each other, and that we welcome the crackle of real passion, real work, the real interaction of ideas.

I do my best to be that kind of person. And I want to be with other people like that. Thanks for being around.