Well Bob, its like this... (true story)


As a younger man I took pleasure in jerking people's chains, withholding praise even when it was due, basically messing with good people who didn't deserve to be messed with. I did it because a lot of other people did it, and at the time it seemed like fun. In short, I was not a pleasant person to be around.

But I noticed one day that nothing good ever happened around me anymore. All the positive people left my side and the only people around me were those who enjoyed the kind of behavioral crap I dished out. All of the remaining people were black holes of negativity, value subtractors, users and losers.

The value adders were somewhere else, surrounded by the positive people who were like them. And being surrounded by value adders, they all flourished like plants that have exactly the right amount of nourishment.

It occurred to me that positivity is something that needs to be fed and watered or it dies on the vine. I imagined a world where all the positive people gave up because of those who consistently withheld the encouragement and praise they had worked for and rightfully deserved. It wasn't a pretty thing to imagine.

So, I made a conscious decision to positively reinforce anyone who seemed to be doing something worthy of praise; and, by default, a conscious decision to resist the temptation to say anything that might discourage, insult, wear down, deflate or subract value in any way.

Yes, you're right... at times it comes across as disingenuous... but all idealism appears disingenuous to those who don't share the ideology.



The difference between what I do and what a snake oil salesman does is that the snake oil salesman profits by cheating people out of their hard earned money and gives them something worthless in exchange.

I don't profit in any way by praising others... in fact I try to avoid cheating them out of the reward they've earned. It is enough to me that people who are doing a good thing don't give up. If I accomplish one thing in this life, I want to die knowing I took every step possible to reward goodness wherever I saw it. And I definitely see goodness coming out of PGMusic. Read the forums, people's lives are literally jump-started by the fun they're having and the musical successes that wouldn't have happened without it.

End of story, its nothing more complicated than that.

Regarding the terminology you find so amusing, I can only say that I have always taken pleasure in the sound of a well-crafted phrase. Words can be powerful in both directions...They can tear down as easily as they can build up.

Knowing that, I use them with surgical precision, not randomly nor disingenuously.

Thanks for asking. It was time to get the lid off that molasses jar.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ey71h8ep047758h/AAC12jNM0Hz9Q8zsh5iDeqNHa?dl=0