Dude, they are way too kind!
Or, a reflection on giving and receiving kindness.
Have you ever met someone who was so nice
that it surprised you? I'm not talking about
people who let others take advantage of
them, but people who genuinely are that
kind-hearted.
I remember the first time someone gave me
that impression: it was a friend of a
friend, who I didn't know very well. For no
particular reason, we ended up hanging out
one day and I remember that at some point,
after we left the cat cafe where we met, we
passed by my favorite store
(which is full of cute things!)
and this person started to grab a LOT of
things as they said: "I'm going to buy this
for A, since they love cats! I'm going to
take a picture of that to send it to B
because they have the same thing and it
reminds me of them, and now that I think
about it, I bet C would love the cat cafe
from earlier. I'm going to bring them next
week for sure!".
My jaw was on the floor as they continued to
explain what they were getting for their
friends and the reasons why they would love
them! The only thought that crossed my mind
at that moment was the title of this blog,
since they weren't appreciating the cute
items on the shelves like me - instead, they
saw things that their friends would like! At
that moment, I remembered something that my
dad said to me years ago: "Be nice, because
there's a lot of people who will be nice to
you as well".
My coworker is a nice person just like the
person I was talking about before. The other
day, when they came back from buying some
stuff, they approached me with a giddy smile
on their face as they hid something behind
their before revealing it: it was the same
snack I brought to work just the day before
to eat. They said, "I saw you eating this
yesterday, so I bought one for you!". Of
course, I said thanks - and when this
coworker said that it was nothing and gave
me the same speech ("I like being nice to
the people who are nice to me") was when it
clicked.
Suddenly, I remembered the way how one of my
friends gave me a birthday present on may
even if my birthday is in october, the lady
next to me who I didn't knew but lend me her
hand fan as we were watching a musical in a
REALLY hot theatre - and I figured out that
these situations I kept seeing myself in
were just people being nice back at me! My
coworker got me something they knew I like
because they say that the way I'm always
smiling lifts their mood up, my friend got
me a gift because I got something for them
on their birthday, and maybe that random
lady was being nice in exchange for the day
I complimented a guy who was wearing the
coolest jacket and thanked me a lot of times
with a beaming smile.
What I'm trying to say by writing this is:
be kind. The answer to my question of why
the person who I talked about at the
beggining of this post was being so
thoughtful of their friends was that they
surely were super nice to this person and
they decided to be kind to them too, which
is the same reason why people are nice to
me! There's people who will try to take
advantage - but remember that there is even
more people who will be nice to you too (and
those are the ones who are worth it!).