are you a nice person and is it worth it?

peace, compassion, kindness, niceties, smiling

do you follow through with it, give money to homeless people, offer people your seat, and why?

discuss

Yes and yes. It's absolutely important to me to do the right thing. Not through any religious knackers, but because it's the right thing to do.

P.
 
Yes and yes. It's absolutely important to me to do the right thing. Not through any religious knackers, but because it's the right thing to do.

P.

This.
 
"Everybody loves money! That's why they call it money!"

Circular logic's a hoot. :)
 
To answer the second question which breaks circular logic or whatever, it's worth it to me to make the people around me feel special or respected or comfortable. I smile at babies and children, actually whoever gives me pleasant eye contact. I know when someone smiles at me or gives up their seat or does something kind, it feels lovely. So I try to do the same within the confines of my weird shyness.
 
To answer the second question which breaks circular logic or whatever, it's worth it to me to make the people around me feel special or respected or comfortable. I smile at babies and children, actually whoever gives me pleasant eye contact. I know when someone smiles at me or gives up their seat or does something kind, it feels lovely. So I try to do the same within the confines of my weird shyness.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", basically?
 
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", basically?

It doesn't need to be in quotes. We don't need religious quotations to remind us of what is right and wrong. We've gained that knowledge through living, and interacting with countless others, not by going to church/mosque/synagogue etc.

P.
 
It doesn't need to be in quotes. We don't need religious quotations to remind us of what is right and wrong. We've gained that knowledge through living, and interacting with countless others, not by going to church/mosque/synagogue etc.

P.

That's true. We could quote The Jam or The New Radicals instead, since they had better trousers. We could have a world in which people believed "What you give is what you get" and acted accordingly.
 
I think I'm a nice person (at least, a fortune teller once told me I had one of the kindest hearts she'd ever 'seen' :cool:). As to whether it's worth it or not...In an immediate context, it may sound corny or whatever, but it's worth it to the people who are worth it. What I'm trying to say is, the people who recognise and value your kindness are the people who deserve it; and they tend to make up for the people who shove it back in your face.
 
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", basically?

Yes, but it goes both ways. For instance I waited until the very last minute to send an RSVP card to the bride I just did the invitations for because I know it;s her pet peeve and she's getting really bridezilla-ey about RSVP's and it makes me laugh a little bit. :p So I'm no saint and I'm sure that'll come back to haunt me in karmaville, but as far as being kind to strangers, I employ the do unto others routine because it just feels like the right thing to do. ANd it makes me feel good when others feel good.
 
"They want us to say something."

"What should I say?"

"Make something up, dude."

"Be excellent to each other"



P.
 
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ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN

(a guide for Global Leadership)

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

[Source: "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum. See his web site at http://www.robertfulghum.com/ ]
 
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN

(a guide for Global Leadership)

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

[Source: "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum. See his web site at http://www.robertfulghum.com/ ]

Yep.

P.
 
I don't give money to homeless people.
 
I try to be a nice person, to smile, be considerate, help out. Partly because it makes me feel good to contribute to other's happiness, partly for reciprocity.
But I'm also known for telling it as it is. So, for example, if someone is taking the piss, taking advantage of other people's generosity, I'll say so. Afterwards friends approach and say to me "I'm glad you said that, because I was feeling under pressure to be "nice" but was unhappy with the situation."

There's no reason to be a doormat in the cause of niceness.
I dislike the religious instruction that says "consider other people before yourself. Be selfless, always give when asked".

I'd rather say "consider yourself equal to others".

"Do to others as you would have them do to you" does not have to be a religious morality.
 
I don't give money to homeless people.

I do sometimes, just change though. But if I have an unopened bottle of water in my car which for some reason I always do, or some unopened package of snacks or something, I hand them that instead.
 
I think I'm a nice person (at least, a fortune teller once told me I had one of the kindest hearts she'd ever 'seen' :cool:). As to whether it's worth it or not...In an immediate context, it may sound corny or whatever, but it's worth it to the people who are worth it. What I'm trying to say is, the people who recognise and value your kindness are the people who deserve it; and they tend to make up for the people who shove it back in your face.

Because you do.
 
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