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Being nice (pg. 3)
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| The Highroller |
I mean seriously? Nice? What the hell is nice?
The word "nice" is such a ty word in the modern English language. It's the ultimate copout word. It doesn’t really mean anything. You can say phrases such as “That’s nice.”. “It’s…. nice” “I think he’s nice”, and it wouldn’t really tell you anything concrete or definite. It really doesn’t say anything much about what you are thinking or even if you are thinking at all. The term “nice guy” can apply to everyone in the ing world.
Look. True “nice guys” are hard to find. “Nice” people in general are hard to find. I’m not “nice”. I wouldn’t want to be described as “nice”. But you know instantly when someone is a genuine completely hundred-percent-so-help-me-god nice when you meet them. It’s that guy with the impeccable grooming that not only gives a buck to a homeless guy, but takes him to Denny’s and then talks to him with genuine interest. It’s mother Theresa. It’s the mother who takes in foster kids. And so on. Truly “nice people” are easily found and everyone knows who they are—well if you know a lot of people. It’s very probable in your circle of friends and relatives that there is not one “nice” person. It’s the guy or girl, that no matter who it is says, “Oh, he’s nice” or “She’s really a nice person”.
Take this short quiz, give your self a point for every true sentence:
“All of my family generally and mainly refers to me as a nice guy/girl when describing me.” (Other positive attributes may be named, as long as they ALWAYS bring up the word “nice”)
“A friend of mine who I have known for more than 4 years generally and mainly refers to me as a nice guy/girl when talking to people about me.” (Other positive attributes may be named, as long as they ALWAYS bring up the word “nice”)
“I have helped someone that I have never met before and will never meet again without expecting anything in return on more than a few occasions this year, and this activity was not part of a ‘group’ effort. It was purely an individual altruistic action”
“I have never said a negative statement about anyone in the past month. That includes my parents, my friends, my teachers, policemen, homeless, and any other groups of people”.
“I generally feel bad when I am forced to say negative things about anyone, privately or publicly, even if everyone says they deserved it.”
I bet you, Jayx1 would score 0 on this quiz.
So therefore, it's highly improbable that you are a "nice guy". |
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| Fir3start3r |
^^^^^
Hey you're right...we here at TA think you're a total dick! :p |
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| ++ EGO ++ |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
Are you being sarcastic? :confused:
Are certainly hope not because we need more people in the world like that 14 year old.
It's not about the reward, it's about the principle of the thing. |
Yeah that's the obvious part;
but how would other people react when they hear such news?
Other teenagers perhaps?
I think the store owner should have took the money and left it at that. And although he tried doing something nice by treating the boy, I bet the kid is probably regreting he had ever returned the money.
Honestly though 'firestarter', if people are willing to do good deeds from their heart, they would (for no reward at stake). |
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| djshan |
| if i was paul martin, i would ban hip hop on television and radio!:toothless |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by ++ EGO ++
Yeah that's the obvious part;
but how would other people react when they hear such news?
Other teenagers perhaps?
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It's a feel good story; I think it's awesome.
If others think they need a reward to do good then they've obviously got a problem.
Life isn't about selfishness, it's about serving. <-- Learn it grasshoppa... ;)
| quote: |
I think the store owner should have took the money and left it at that. And although he tried doing something nice by treating the boy, I bet the kid is probably regreting he had ever returned the money.
Honestly though 'firestarter', if people are willing to do good deeds from their heart, they would (for no reward at stake).
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I don't think the kid actually asked for anything by the sounds of it.
The kid also had the right to refuse since you're right; the store owner was not under any obligation to reward him.
It's a kind gesture and a correct one at that, regardless of if it was 1/2 the money or reeses pieces and a squirt gun... |
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| Rodrico |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
A few recent immigrants have recently told me their thoughts on niceness in Canada. Their conclusion? That people are nt very nice and in fact are down right cold. The reason? well it seems that when you are nice people take advantage of you like crazy.
This is absolutely true. It was a wierd change living overseas where EVERYONE seemed to be overwhelmingly nice and didnt expect anything in return. The hardest part was trying to keep up with the niceness since growing up in Canada numbs you to it.
I compare my old apartment in Argentina that had 5 other apartments in the building. When i moved in the neighbours knocked on the door to welcome me. One neighbour who was very poor baked me a cake before she even knew who i was. The neighbours kids came over all the time for peanut butter sandwiches and kool ade (2 things i brought with me that dont exist in argentina).
Ive lived in my new place for 3 weeks now and there are 25 apartments in this building. The one neighbour i did run into practically ran away when i said hello to them. The only person who knocked on my door was trying to sell me gas (i have electric and no gas LOL). Im still waiting for my cake too. The only kids ive seen are 10 year olds smoking up under the stairs in the lobby.
Its sad |
I tend to think of this as a Canadian/USA mindset, more than anything else, in comparison to a country like Chile (where I used to live for some time), you see the difference in the way people are to each other, especially within one's own community. One thing I notice is that in countries like Chile, there's not a large diversity in multi-culturalism. When you look at it this way, you tend to see that this country (Chile) is bound by one culture, one religion, one's own people. The very fact I wasn't born there, but still was born of two chilean parents, was more than enough for me to be accepted within the community as one of them. In countries like Canada and USA, you notice that there is no one people, or one culture, its many cultures and many people's race.
Even in a modern day society (North America), with internet and high tech-communications devices that supposedly bring everyone together, we still alienate ourselves by the color of our skin and the country on our passport. Its not to say all of Canada is like this (I've never visited every part of Canada or USA, so I dont know how small towns are), I just tend to think its not as easy to cope with the multi-culturalism that comes with living in metropolitans like Toronto, or New York (example of a USA city with huge multi-culturalism).
Sometimes, we tend to forget that we are all living under the roof of a single, multi-cultural community, that also has to develop its roots and culture. It's probably never going to happen, atleast not anytime soon (I think). But we need to change our minds in how we are going to treat North Americans as one people. We still fear our neighbours cause we dont know what to think of their families, traditions, rituals and superstitions (the age old "what you dont know, you fear" ideology). In the end, I just think that we are not where are ancestors are from, or what flag we decide to put on our car when World Cup is going on, we are where we live and where we want to stay. We are North Americans, and when we decide to erase the invisible lines that divides our roots, maybe one day we can see we are all just one race, the human race.
Anyhow, enough of my stupid rambling...take it how you want, this is just my take of the whole "coldness of canada debate". |
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| Elmo-On-XTC |
| quote: | Originally posted by djshan
if i was paul martin, i would ban hip hop on television and radio!:toothless |
I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic or not so ignore this if you were...
but I really don't think rap or hip hop really has anything to do with 'corrupting' it's listeners. Just like any form of music it can be seen as something it's listeners can relate to or something that makes them happy. It's when you try and tell them that their music is evil and try and take it away from them, that's when they get bitter about it. |
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| Max Q |
I haven't read the whole thread yet but..
I think it's not a reflection of Canada as a whole at ALL! It's a matter of WHERE in the country you live I think.
I live in Burlington and when I moved into my place about 3 years ago, the FIRST thing that happened was that my next door neighbour popped his head over our fence and asked us if we needed any tools to put up our Starchoice satellite dish at the time. And we started shooting the . Later on, we made friends with our neighbours across the hallway, and the next couple down.
Now, all of Burlington is probably not like this -- you'll have your 'ghetto'-style community, your mid-income communities, etc. |
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| Jayx1 |
| I live in Bronte Oakville which is probably way friendlier than most of the GTA and i still dont see anywhere close to what ive seen in other societies. |
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| The Highroller |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
I live in Bronte Oakville which is probably way friendlier than most of the GTA and i still dont see anywhere close to what ive seen in other societies. |
For someone who lives in Canada, you don't seem to like it very much. Why do you still live here if it's so bad? |
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| tw1tch |
| quote: | Originally posted by The Highroller
For someone who lives in Canada, you don't seem to like it very much. Why do you still live here if it's so bad? |
I was going to post the same thing a while ago. hahaha |
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| Jayx1 |
| I love canada and im old enough to remember how it used to be. I just dont like where its headed |
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