Re: Resignation
On Mon, 2004-05-24 at 23:07, Josip Rodin wrote:
> On Mon, May 24, 2004 at 09:11:38PM +1000, Ben Burton wrote:
> > > Why is quitting worthy of jeering then?
> >
> > FWIW, the main reasons I can see for this resignation would be either:
> >
> > (i) you honestly believe that if the argument does not go your way, you
> > will be sufficiently unhappy working in the project that it is better
> > for your state of mind to quit,
> >
> > (ii) persuasion is failing and you wish to push people to your side of the
> > argument through other means (i.e., through the loss of your significant
> > contribution),
> >
> > or some combination of the above.
> >
> > I expect that Josip is criticising (ii) and you are defending (i).
> > Having no great insight into Herbert's mind, I offer no suggestions of
> > my own as to why he did it.
> >
> > I do believe that (ii) is rather childish, but OTOH I can certainly
> > envisage hypothetical situations where (i) could push me out of a
> > project that I love dearly and have put a lot of time into.
> >
> > Anyway.
>
> Had he said that e.g. he will refuse to use kde debs because of that bug,
> or that he will up the severity of the bug to RC, or something like that,
> I would have understood it as (i). Instead, quitting altogether certainly
> looks more like (ii) or worse, and I find such an act worthy of derision.
The eyes of the beholder perhaps...
Granted that I can see how easy it is to see the puny potential side
of such actions, perhaps there is another possibility:
(iii.a) Herbert made a decision (perhaps a little quickly, or perhaps
entirely reasoned, well thought out and calculated according to his
own principles, past experience, commitments, etc. - that which we
cannot know since it is in his mind and he chooses not to share it.)
(iii.b) Herbert is a man of strong resolution: having made a decision,
he then sticks by it/ carries through. Having said he will do
something, he actually does it and doesn't back out. This is the
definition of integrity, at least in my book.
Of course, you can choose how you see another's actions.
This is how I see Herbert's.
I'd also like to point out that given (iii.b), Herbert is actually not
(attempting to) force a change in people's (current?) actions. Since
he has made a decision that is not up for change, regardless of the
actions of others, then there is no consequence (wrt Herbert staying
or leaving) to anyone "changing". And in the process he gets to make
a clear statement to the world, open up new horizons for himself, and
watch us all pontificate over his actions. The stuff of inspiration
and legends.
And for the single sentence version:
Herbert did what he said he'd do, demonstrating integrity with respect
to his own words and actions, thereby not pressuring anyone else to
change with the carrot of "oh, I might ditch my principles and come
back if you change for me, or say sorry, or ...".
cheers
zenaan
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