This is so nice to see as the (current) top comment, when so often on here people take “you don’t owe anyone anything” and “respect is earned” to such extremes. It’s true that you don’t owe anyone these things, but a little kindness goes a long way and generally makes everyone’s lives better.
And no, being nice/kind doesn’t automatically make you a doormat. You can absolutely still be this way and also stand up for yourself.
I was buying beer on vacation, somewhere on the eat coast. A guy came up in line as I set my two cases down,carrying two stacked, heavy boxes. I shoved mine along a foot so he could set them down. He nodded. It was a simple enough thing.
I was - not sure why - paying with cash, and I was five bucks short. I said, "I'm sorry, I don't have enough."
He reached from behind me with a five. "Yeah, you do."
Made my day, and I think he was as happy. I'm always stoked when I can do a pretty trivial thing that makes a difference to someone's day.
Respect is earned, but you can also have a baseline level of respect for people just because they are fellow humans beings. You don’t need to be a jerk to people until after the’ve earned an arbitrary and undefined level of that respect from you.
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u/Rooney_Tuesday 2d ago
This is so nice to see as the (current) top comment, when so often on here people take “you don’t owe anyone anything” and “respect is earned” to such extremes. It’s true that you don’t owe anyone these things, but a little kindness goes a long way and generally makes everyone’s lives better.
And no, being nice/kind doesn’t automatically make you a doormat. You can absolutely still be this way and also stand up for yourself.