Offered Rewards vs. Real Rewards?

In my last blog, “Red Letter Day”, I told about how something as simple as writing a letter to the Paper’s letter column played havoc with my emotions. I also told you how my second attempt not only got published but was awarded a Pen as the prize for being the Letter of the Day.

Well yesterday the pen arrived in the post. A very nice Parker Sonnet fountain pen, in a very nice presentation box.

As I admired it, the penny started dropping. A very nice pen indeed but a fountain pen none the less. Now I don’t know about you, but it is difficult to remember the last time I seriously used a fountain pen. I did do a little Calligraphy one time during our time in South Africa, but I think the previous time before that would be over 40 years ago, whilst at primary school.

So here I am with a very nice, and a reasonably expensive pen that I will probably never use. Although I never really expected either of the girls to have a use for it either, I did offer it to them first, before offering it to my/our boy. He reluctantly accepted it saying that he might use it sometime.

So that was my dilemma. My prize was a very nice, even an expensive one, but one that was largely worthless and useless to me.

This led me to thinking about why I wrote the letter; what my real motivation was. I guess the main reason for writing, was to express my response to something I had an opinion on and as no one else was sharing it, I wanted to get the other side out there for people’s consideration and /or inspiration. The other reason for writing was to get it before a wider audience, hence the need/desire to have it published. The reward for the letter of the day was a very nice “Cherry on Top” but not the reason for writing. (And again, a totally unexpected one!)

What is your reason or motivation for doing what you do? Is it simply to win rewards, even if like my pen, they prove ultimately useless to you? Or is it to get a previously unheard or ignored message across for the consideration or inspiration of others?

What is your motivation? To get published? Or to be rewarded? A view shared, is far more rewarding than a temporary award or prize, irregardless of its temporary usefulness or not, to you.

My goal was to get the letter published and out there before the public irregardless of their response. Mind you, having said that, it was nice to find that I was not alone in my view! (Encouragement is always appreciated!) However whether it was accepted by the wider public or not, was neither here nor there in my reasoning. Just getting it out there for others to ponder was my motivation in doing this. Again what is your motivation for doing all that you do?

What say you, is your real reward? The prize, or the achievement? Walter