I was buying some produce this afternoon at the grocery store when a lady approached me and asked, “Is that rosemary?”
An innocent enough question coming from a complete stranger, so I proceeded to tell her where I found it.
She said, “No, I know where you can get it in this store.” Then she proceeded to tell me about a beautiful rosemary bush that she knew of by the physical plant on A&M’s campus where I could collect the herb for free. She asked me if I knew where that was. I said I did (I think after two victory laps, I know where most things are on campus now). She kind of nodded (and she looked as though she had been preparing to give me directions from the grocery store straight there). My initial reaction was to be a little annoyed at the interference in my life. She had probably slowed me down for a good thirty seconds or so.
A bit later while still in the market, my attitude towards her intrusion into my day changed. I began to feel grateful for the suggestion (although herb collecting on public land is not my sort of thing). A complete stranger had taken time to try to save me money. She had been concerned however briefly with my prosperity. After making this realization, I felt a little ashamed of myself. This kind soul was just trying to help me out, and I had reacted almost with repulsion
I’ve had the opportunity to live several places in my life: Colorado, Texas, Georgia, Virginia, New York, and Eygpt. Most of them are very near to my heart, but there is no place on earth I’d call home after Bryan/College Station, and folks like that woman are why.
We should all take a cue from this woman. We should concern ourselves with helping others to not just live but to prosper. Open-source software initiatives are founded on these ideals. So we as Ags or members of the community should donate our time to open source projects. To sort of quote Stephen King, karma is a wheel: you get what you give. The works you do for the public good will inspire someone else to do likewise and you in turn shall reap the rewards of your work.
If you don’t feel that you are a seasoned enough developer or designer to effectively contribute to an open source project, you might try writing documentation for one, or just blogging about one. Most open-source efforts are in desperate need of good documentation.
