Re: [Leica] my thoughts on e-mail

["ross mcleish" <cram@bigpond.com>]

>An honourable call for civil communication and discourse........I second
the motion! It is indeed too easy to hit out when your oponent is invisible.
Thanks, Jim.


- -----Original Message-----
From: Jim Brick <jimbrick@photoaccess.com>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Tuesday, 23 February 1999 07:07
Subject: [Leica] my thoughts on e-mail


>E-mail is a strange form of communications. It spans the globe in
>microseconds. There isn't any consciousness or consequences involved. It
>really doesn't matter what is said, or how it is worded, folks will put
>their own slant on it anyway. They will read whatever they want, between
>the lines. Different folks. Different cultures. Different ethics. Different
>interpretations. There is no face connected. It is just a bunch of text
>appearing on a computer monitor. Innocuous, not Innocuous? Depends upon who
>you are.
>
>You are in a hurry to get to work. You are late for a meeting. So you are
>driving a little faster than normal. You take a few opportunities and
>slip-in front of other folks (cut them off), when there really wasn't
>enough room. A few horns honk, lights flash. But you ignore them and
>continue. These are just pieces of metal. No face. After all, I'm right. I
>have an important meeting to get to.
>
>You arrive at work, and as you are getting out of your car, one of the
>folks you cut-off, pulls into the lot and parks near you. You exchange
>glances, but you hurry in to the meeting. There is a face, but it's gone
now.
>
>You sit down. Made it!
>
>Then the door opens, and who walks in... the person you cut-off just ten
>minutes ago. Now their is a consciousness behind that previous action. It's
>no longer a hunk of metal. It's a face. You start having a "hot flash".
>This is a very important new client. And now there is a consequence behind
>that previous action.
>
>What to do?
>
>Will you do it again?
>
>As soon as there are consequences. As soon as there is a consciousness. As
>soon as there is a face. The rules change.
>
>At the LUG meeting with Leica at Photokina. At the LUG meeting here in Palo
>Alto. At the other LUG meetings around the globe. Did we talk to each other
>in antagonistic terms? Were we rude? Did we argue beyond the point of no
>return?
>
>No. Never.
>
>We had consequences, consciousness, and faces. Smiling faces. Happy faces.
>Fun faces. We talked and talked, looked at equipment, looked at slides, and
>talked some more. We didn't want to leave.
>
>We talked with our mouths, eyes, and gestures. Not with only our fingers,
>in total isolation.
>
>We should all think about the possibility of meeting each other. When you
>type that next message, imagine having to meet the people you are speaking
>to, after you push send.
>
>Sometimes the best message, is no message at all. And sometimes the best
>response, is no response at all.
>
>Have a great day all,
>
>Jim
>
>PS... my philosophies are quite often self-realized...