i wonder what it is about kindness that tick people off. it's not even a question of sincerity. how do we know if a person is truly sincere or not? can we consider ourselves such experts in character that we may know how people feel when they engage in certain acts? even the cruelest of men can have moments of genuine altruism.
i always thought that those who have seen the "dark side" have an equal understanding of pain and therefore know the value of gentleness. we always complain how others treat/judge us, and it usually leads to some form of resentment toward them, but the very thing that we hate in others is the same thing that we keep on doing to each other. we don't want to be judged yet we so easily judge. it seems like we're just as ignorant and self-serving as any bully we hated. the only difference is that we claim to know better than they do.