Hey Geek, or should I say, Mr. Greek,
Perhaps it comes from my long years of being a Unitarian, but I can understand your point of view
perfectly well.
As I've said before, we all come to Kiva and to Kiva Friends with our own particular back stories and life
experiences -- some tragic, some uplifting, some a mixture of the two -- which provide our own particular
motivations for involvement here.
I am new to any sort of online community life, and it doesn't seem the sort of thing I would have glommed
onto, but I have felt comfortable with my little group of invisible friends, and I have enjoyed some
of the group's efforts towards generating interest and enthusiasm, yes, but mainly generating as much
money as possible towards funding Kiva loans. Myself, I dip in and out of KF for suggestions on loans.
Sometimes I am grateful to have a loan brought to my attention and sometimes -- most times -- I
am perfectly happy reading through the descriptions and making a loan without wanting to tell
the (KF) world about it.
(
A notable exception being, of course, the ANN LOAN
available at http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=54013
for only 10 more days -- don't be the last on your block to take advantage of this marvelous
opportunity! Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, sell blood if you have to! No reasonable offer refused!)
Um, where was I? Oh yes, community.
I fell into the KF experience out of curiosity and surprised myself by staying. I appreciate the variety of information
here, particularly as regards education (yeah, okay, and recipes).
Back to my Unitarian-ness (??) though -- I am here for my own reasons. I like to see a group effort that brings many people on to a loan. KF is the only way I see to do that, other than my going door-to-door to invite people to join
the Kiva.org way of life. But, I'm a UU, remember. We don't proselytize. (Insert your favorite Unitarian joke here.)
I appreciate the fact that not everyone feels the same way and that many people want a different experience
here, a more solitary one if you will. The rousing, cheerleading, pep rally deal doesn't work for everyone.
(It sure didn't do it for me in high school.)
Sometimes I just love being the only KF on a loan. I'm in my own little world. (Insert your favorite joke at my expense here.)
I agree that frequently the energy expended in KF in preaching to the choir would be better spent in outreach,
in trying to bring our friends and family and strange people on the street (and their paypal accounts) into
Kiva. Members of Kiva are a small percentage of the population and, as such, have limited funds. Members of
KF are a small percentage of Kiva and have very limited funds relative to the outside world. If we all worked
harder to bring even one more lender into the flock, wouldn't that be a more important effort? I wrestle
with that a lot, and I try to do what I can.
So, in conclusion (
finally, Ann, geez...) Mr G., I am glad you are here. I like hearing other people's takes on what
goes on here. I am not comfortable with lock-step mentality (see UU refs above). I like reading your posts.
Thank you for your opinion.
Luego,
Ann
who just vants to be aloooone.
