I have no problem believing that someone was kind to a janitor. What’s weird is the “look at me!” points they were subconsciously (or consciously?) aiming to receive from posting this. Like, truly kind behavior doesn’t look for validation.
This is such an uncharitable interpretation of OP’s intentions. Perhaps he felt happy that the janitor had such an honest reaction and wanted to share it. Not everyone is an absolute narcissist who only ever looks for internet points.
Needing the validation makes it cringe. People who are kind don’t look for praise about being kind. The entire tweet reeks of “I was SO kind to this guy!”
Except I’m not winning internet points with it am I because I’m not declaring it to my name. It’s just a thing I did and I pointed out that I did it to demonstrate the fact that not everyone needs to go self-congratulate themselves whenever they do something even moderately pleasant.
I read it as OP being a high school teacher (because I associate janitors with schools). Signaling this behaviour to the school kids would be a good thing.
Not everyone’s as bad as you think. My mum’s a very kind woman and tells me when she does stuff like this. I now do stuff like this too. You kinda need to be reminded of ways that you can be nice to people.
(Also, people online are generally very nice. Sure, there are a couple of loud dumbasses. However, starting with the assumption that someone is nice is much better for everyone rather than the latter.)
I have no problem believing that someone was kind to a janitor. What’s weird is the “look at me!” points they were subconsciously (or consciously?) aiming to receive from posting this. Like, truly kind behavior doesn’t look for validation.
Yes it also creates a baseline that the janitor actually is inferior by showing themselves as a good Samaritan just by having coffee with them.
This is such an uncharitable interpretation of OP’s intentions. Perhaps he felt happy that the janitor had such an honest reaction and wanted to share it. Not everyone is an absolute narcissist who only ever looks for internet points.
ehh…
Needing the validation makes it cringe. People who are kind don’t look for praise about being kind. The entire tweet reeks of “I was SO kind to this guy!”
Don’t mean it’s not an accurate one though.
I payed for someone’s train ticket once because her purse was stolen, I didn’t feel the need to make a twitter account and tell everyone.
Nah, you just kept in your back pocket until the opportunity arose to win some internet points with it.
But wait, that’s not accurate, is it? No, because the most cynical interpretation of someone’s behavior rarely is accurate.
My reaction to OP was to wonder who in my life could use a friend. I’d like to think that’s exactly what OP was hoping for.
Except I’m not winning internet points with it am I because I’m not declaring it to my name. It’s just a thing I did and I pointed out that I did it to demonstrate the fact that not everyone needs to go self-congratulate themselves whenever they do something even moderately pleasant.
I read it as OP being a high school teacher (because I associate janitors with schools). Signaling this behaviour to the school kids would be a good thing.
Not everyone’s as bad as you think. My mum’s a very kind woman and tells me when she does stuff like this. I now do stuff like this too. You kinda need to be reminded of ways that you can be nice to people.
(Also, people online are generally very nice. Sure, there are a couple of loud dumbasses. However, starting with the assumption that someone is nice is much better for everyone rather than the latter.)
This is how it works now. This is how people socialize, which is all about validation.