Nice people always frustrate me. You know the type...always helping others, polite, willing to go above and beyond and don't care about recognition...these people make me sick. I suppose it could be that I feel guilty about my own lack of niceness. Like many people, my moral compass too often just points to myself...selfishness is far too often my direction of choice, and this leaves far away from being nice.
I guess that is why God put my wife in my life. I have never met such a wonderfully nauseatingly nice person. I will give you a good example. Almost every day my wife and I go for a one mile walk. The only time we miss is when it is too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, or too windy. Sometimes we skip the walk if it is too calm as well. Anyway, my lovely wife has taken up picking up nails...and screws...and little sharp pieces of metal...as we walk. After about a year of watching her do this I worked up the nerve to question her activity. It almost blew my mind when she said she was just doing this so people wouldn't get these items stuck in their tires. I was flabbergasted. I mean, I could understand if she was collecting scrap iron to sell in order to go on a trip to Australia or something...but just so nameless people won't get flat tires?
I didn't bring it up again for a couple of years. It took me that long to process that craziness (or being nice as it as also known as). Finally I decided that I should try to dissuade her from this thankless task. I still didn't know why I was so frustrated with her "mission" but my "mission" was to drag her down to my level. We had several conversations about the whole thing. I laid out reasons why it was not a good idea to pick up nails and screws (my favorite was the whole tetanus thing) but each time she just ignored me (which is what nice people do...I guess) and continued on with her mission.
I can't really say how many pieces of shrapnel that my wife has picked up over the past couple of decades. I can't even begin to guess how many tires she has prevented from being flattened. What I do know is that she continues to do this and she has never once been thanked for it. Her only reward is the gentle mocking that I heaped up on her (PS...if you know my wife you know she would not put up with any serious mocking from me, this is only literary embellishment).
I am sure that there are more "nice" people out there...helpful people who do the right thing and ask for nothing in return. To all of you I say, "Well done, and I wish I could be a lot more like you!" For the rest of us...those who aren't so "nice" I say let's be more polite, caring, and unselfish. Being "nice" shouldn't be an anomaly...it should be a common occurrence...that would be NICE!
I guess that is why God put my wife in my life. I have never met such a wonderfully nauseatingly nice person. I will give you a good example. Almost every day my wife and I go for a one mile walk. The only time we miss is when it is too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, or too windy. Sometimes we skip the walk if it is too calm as well. Anyway, my lovely wife has taken up picking up nails...and screws...and little sharp pieces of metal...as we walk. After about a year of watching her do this I worked up the nerve to question her activity. It almost blew my mind when she said she was just doing this so people wouldn't get these items stuck in their tires. I was flabbergasted. I mean, I could understand if she was collecting scrap iron to sell in order to go on a trip to Australia or something...but just so nameless people won't get flat tires?
I didn't bring it up again for a couple of years. It took me that long to process that craziness (or being nice as it as also known as). Finally I decided that I should try to dissuade her from this thankless task. I still didn't know why I was so frustrated with her "mission" but my "mission" was to drag her down to my level. We had several conversations about the whole thing. I laid out reasons why it was not a good idea to pick up nails and screws (my favorite was the whole tetanus thing) but each time she just ignored me (which is what nice people do...I guess) and continued on with her mission.
I can't really say how many pieces of shrapnel that my wife has picked up over the past couple of decades. I can't even begin to guess how many tires she has prevented from being flattened. What I do know is that she continues to do this and she has never once been thanked for it. Her only reward is the gentle mocking that I heaped up on her (PS...if you know my wife you know she would not put up with any serious mocking from me, this is only literary embellishment).
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| Not on my watch says Sara |
Dear MR HOT COCO,
ReplyDeleteNice advice please - so some kindly elderly friends spent their last penny on a marriage anniversary trip to Ireland, having departed February 29 this year to make it even more special. They rented a car, slowly making their way round the island, overnighting in the B&Bs, slowly making their way toward the final destination of their trip. Today they arrive in County Cork to kiss the Blarney Stone, to bless their 50 years of marriage.
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DeleteStone kissing a no-no for now.
First time since 1446.