recognition – radical druid

White Hat Testing

Published on April 18, 2025

Too many people only seem to do good deeds, or even want to be caught doing them, if there’s a reward in it: remuneration, recognition, or at least reputation. Even saints want to get in good with their patron (or patrons, male or female, mortal or divine, immanent or imminent, true north or morally ambivalent). And that’s good, in some respects, because it means of all the good deeds that need doing, at least some of them may get done. Because there’s always somebody promising something to those who believe in something enough to do something stupid about it. And usually, the feed doer doesn’t find out too soon that the eternal reward promised isn’t as advertised. But by then, for better or worse, the good happens.

But it doesn’t last. Because good, when not done just for its own sake, with no attachment to the results, and absolutely no personal gain in the achievement, takes a lot of energy to sustain. Chasing after an elusive jackpot celestial lottery gets tiring, and what was once a glowing, white hot burning flame of righteousness becomes a dying ember, fading in the last few moments of encroaching twilight. The good you must do becomes the good you may do. The good you may do leads to the good you can do. The good you can do melts away into the good you should do, which is worn to the good you don’t to, which slinks off in the dark as the good you won’t do.

Like compliance with a standard, a good that stays on the floor when it could be the ceiling is like the good people who do nothing, letting evil thrive and deepen. How good is that?

It’s not really about morality or ethics, is it? After all, most of the most obvious guides to self-preservation, like “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” or “every cause has an effect which is itself a cause,” don’t need sophisticated theology or sociology to explain them. They are in fact, self-evident. You just have to know where to look, and how far back toward the beginning to start. Give it a little time. You’ll get it. Anyone can. Anyone who tried getting out of their own way does.

Who are the “good guys”? Look for the ones not taking credit.

18 APR 2025

Almost Famous

Published on April 30, 2006

To be respected by your family,
those you like and know,
is often not enough acclaim
to satisfy; and so
we seek to become famous
in this lifetime or the next,
a bigger fish than all the rest
and so command respect.

As the sphere of your influence
expands, you gain some perks:
you get your way more often
and can boss around more jerks,
perhaps a bigger house or car,
more money in the bank,
a longer list of so-called friends
who think you owe them thanks.

From strangers, you gain envy;
from criminals, their lust;
and at some point, the tiny circle
that you know and trust
continues to diminish, until
they grow tired and leave,
exhausted from competing
with the users you believe
would be there if your fortunes
were one morning found reversed,
who only stroke your ego
as a way to line their purse.

I wanted to be famous once.
I thought it would be great
to live as if my word was law,
to die and lay in state
while mourners passed through teary-eyed,
my name upon their lips:
the mind, the face that changed the world,
that launched a thousand ships.

But now, I wonder at the point
of seeking such applause;
and seek instead a smaller crowd
of friends and kin, because
the bottom line is this, you know:
you get what we call fame
when people you don’t know or like
pretend to know your name.

30 APR 2006

The Presence of Love: a cancione

Published on April 6, 2004

I cannot say I know love
the way some would say they do;
I might not recognize it
passing on the avenue.
In a bleak and somber alley
on some cold and rainy night
some amour may say, “I see love”;
the chance I would, too, is slight.

It has found me now at last;
this to me, is a surprise,
In spite of all my efforts
to remain somewhat disguised.
I can recognize its voice,
the calm beauty it brings near;
and the soft words of comfort
that it whispers in my ear.

No, I don’t know to name it
or describe the way it walks,
but recognize the cadence
in the quiet way it talks.
I did not see it coming
yet its presence in this place
says that it knows who I am,
and will not forget my face.

06 APR 2004

Tag: recognition

White Hat Testing

Almost Famous

The Presence of Love: a cancione