schestowitz.com » Blog Archive » Give, Don’t Take

We’ve long supported what we believed in, even with the little money we had

Listening to football (radio/park nearby) costs nothing

t’s easy to take. It’s easy to tell someone, “what makes you happy? What are you taking? (Drugs, medication etc.)

What about giving? How about sharing with others?

That too gives joy, contentment, the memorable blissful moments, fulfillment, happiness.

Last year we gave our money to defend Free software.

This year we give our life and labour to feed the animal kingdom.

It’s about giving, not taking.

The birds’ looks today were gratitude enough.

I think that a society driven by extreme forms of capitalism relies on consumption (“consumerism” makes it sound like a religion), which means people are trained psychologically to take, to hoard, to collect; the notion of giving away or sharing (e.g. better salaries for one’s employees) is portrayed as foolish.

In the Free software movement, we strive to commend people who share while condemning those who work for greedy monopolists. We don’t show much respect to people based on affluence. It indicates a desire to hoard rather than true, objective achievements or professional accomplishments.

In academia, likewise, what counts most is publications, not job titles or salary.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 20th, 2026 at 2:56 pm and is filed under Philosophy, Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.