How you know you&#8217;ve made a difference
<p>I received this a few seconds ago in my mailbox.  It&#8217;s not especially unusual for me to get wow-you-changed-my-life email, I see two or three in a typical month, but this one is&#8230;well, I&#8217;ll say a bit more <em>intense</em> than usual. Also, 34 is an unusual age; they tend to be teenagers. Sender&#8217;s name masked and one bit turned into a live link.  Otherwise unedited, typos and all. </p>
<blockquote><p>
I just finished reading your [<a href="http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html">Hacker HOWTO</a>] for the second time in as many<br />
days.  All of my life I have wanted to be a programmer.  I have never<br />
done it.  I dealt with the failure of that by downloading cracked<br />
software and telling myself that I was a &#8220;hacker.&#8221;</p>
<p>When I clicked on the link to your guide, my intention was to get<br />
started on the road towards what I envisioned a hacker to be.</p>
<p>By the end of your guide, I was wallowing in humiliation.  I felt&#8230;<br />
well basically I felt like a jack ass.  I never even knew what a<br />
hacker was.  I wasn&#8217;t even a cracker, just some poser with no<br />
ambition.</p>
<p>Your guide showed me that any of my few contributions to the cracker<br />
community were meaningless, juvenile  ploys for attention with no<br />
progressive merit.  They won&#8217;t matter in 6 months because I haven&#8217;t<br />
&#8216;built&#8217; anything.</p>
<p>After reading your guide, I began to research and really appreciate<br />
the open source community.  I saw that the degree of separation<br />
between us wasn&#8217;t to huge of a gap and I realized that I could,<br />
through dedication and hard(but fun) work, be part of something that<br />
is growing and giving.  A place where individual contributions aren&#8217;t<br />
lost in the grand scheme of things, but help shape that scheme.</p>
<p>I am 34 years old and I have no problem admitting to you that your<br />
guide made me feel like a complete ass.  It also directed me to an<br />
ideal I will be proud to contribute to.</p>
<p>For that, I thank you Sir.</p>
<p>XXXXX XXXXXX
</p></blockquote>
<p>I replied by quoting &#8220;I saw that the degree of separation between us wasn&#8217;t to huge of a gap&#8221; and said &#8220;I&#8217;m glad you got that far.  Good luck on your journey.&#8221;</p>
<p>And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you know your life has made a difference.</p>
