I re-read Andy’s original post and it reminded me of a discussion I had with my former in-laws.

There was talk at the dinner table about giving or volunteering for charities. I was a bit put-off since it seemed there were daggers being thrown at others for not doing anything to help out. I surprised myself by calmly asking “What are you doing to help out?” There were a few comments about how they think people (others) should do something to help. I calmly piped back in, “No, what are YOU doing? A lot of these organizations could really use help and they are very grateful if you can spare a few hours to help them with anything. It becomes almost selfish because you feel REALLY good afterwards. So, what are you going to do?” I wasn’t accusing, I was asking a sincere question that gave me blank stares in return.

I *think* I understand what Mr Sachs is saying. If you’re not contributing, you’re using up stuff and there isn’t anything being done to contribute something new to the community. No new stuff (products, ideas, etc) is stagnation which is a great way to critically injure a community.

As always, just my 2 cents.