Other words of reciprocation:
ka me, ka thee - One good turn asketh another. (John Hey wood, Works, 1562)
ka me, ka thee - Do a good deed for another and the favor will be returned.
logrolling - In pioneer days a logrolling was a gathering at which neighbors helped each other roll and pile their logs to a particular spot for burning or other means of disposal. Logrolling also was important in lumber camps. Members of different camps helped each other roll their logs to the water’s edge to impede the flood coming downstream.
Expressions of reciprocation:
"You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Golden Rule)
"One hand washes the other," is a proverbial expression originally denoting mutual cooperation in its positive sense only, but now carrying the negative connotations of backscratching, cronyism, and logrolling. the last few centuries these words and expressions have begun to take on a more dubious coloration.
I've been reading about "reciprocity" ... the act of, and also the emotion of it. I'm a fence sitter because, literally, it depends on what side of the fence you're on - giving it, or receiving it. I may "give" you something I think you need or want but, as the "receiver", you may not want or need what I offer. My best example would be a hug. My brother had a friend who was uncomfortable "receiving" hugs. I'm a believer in hugs and their therapeutic value but, with Leo, I had to restrain myself. And how is a person to know unless you express how you feel about something like that.
Open and honest communication is so important to relationships ... any type of relationship. Having said that, there are many people who are uncomfortable or unable to express their innermost feelings. You can't fault them for that ... that's what makes us all unique, different, and quite special. There are no "cookie cutters" where individual personalities are concerned, that's for sure.
Myself, I love in-depth, "heavy" heart-felt conversations. The worst thing about them is when you are misunderstood. Learning to be truthful and tactful in expressing inner feelings is not something we are "born" with and add in the "human factor" for "not hearing what I said", can make it an uneasy task. Constructive criticism and the "I feel" expressions can be risky when talking with someone who is, whether by nature or insecurity, defensive.
With aging, I feel life experiences give us "wisdom" (if we are paying attention). And the lumps and bumps of living can teach you patience and the ability to take "hard truth". On the comedic side of aging ... as Rhett said to Scarlet in Gone With the Wind, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!" Things that used to hurt my feelings, just don't anymore. My priorities in life have changed; there's so much less to fuss and fight about once you're faced up close and personal with your own mortality.
Love, and be willing to forgive. Don't judge unless you've walked in someone else's shoes. Don't expect someone to be the way "you want them to be", and accept me as I am. ~nr lenz
"If you become a giver, you'll make them feel like they want to reciprocate."
~Price Pritchett
"We are enriched by our reciprocate differences." ~Paul Valery
“Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” ~Robert Heinlein
"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions." ~Samuel Johnson
"One of the main causes of burnout is a loss of reciprocity in social interactions. In other words, we have to give much more than we get back." ~Peter Richter