I read an email group conversation in which my friend Conrad and another group member (AGM) were chatting:
AGM: “If you act nice to them, people won’t take you seriously.”
Conrad responded: “What the hell do I care whether I’m taken seriously?”
AGM: “Good point. But if it doesn’t help you, why be nice to people?”
C: “Sometimes it helps me [to be nice]. But don’t you just like being nice to people?”
AGM: “Sometimes. But then if they’re not nice back I get upset.”
C: “Yeah; just skip that part. How often are you nice to people?”
AGM: “Not too often. I’m usually waiting for them to do something where they deserve me being nice to them.”
C: “Then that’s not being nice. That’s being fair.”
(Edited excerpt from Mindlist, 2009)
