Life tends to follow a recursive pattern. The same persons I went to school with years ago would, I hope, make my friends of tomorrow, both as I am growing old and in business. Or maybe that is how I think I wanted it to be.
But this recursive pattern can translate into a dependency circle if we leave baggages of dependency while making friendships. If you feed on my need for help and eventually make it possible that you will be the only one I can call for help when needed, where this circle continues again and again, your helplessly will eventually become a complex circle that might never be broken and costly in resources and emotions.
This is what I think of when I ask for help. I don't usually ask for them. I read somewhere that when people think of money, they rarely ask for help. Maybe that is one of the motives driving the free software philosophy. I subscribe to the FOSS philosophy on open software but wouldn't subscribe to a dependency circle.
Just my crazy illusions though.
