Kindness is not without its rocks ahead. People are apt to put it down to an easy temper and seldom recognize it as the secret striving of a generous nature; whilst, on the other hand, the ill-natured get credit for all the evil they refrain from. -Honore De Balzac, novelist (1799-1850),
5 comments:
Good quote... and I'm not about to argue with the likes of Balzac, but there is some truth that often what we call kindness is just an easy temper, and the ill-natured who can refrain from being ill-natured have achieved a victory. But, as old HDB said, sometimes the kindess isn't because of natural temperment or even victory over an ill-temper, but is, in fact, the heroic effort of a good soul to be even better. I'll think some more about this...
I posted this quote mostly because I think it is an irony--mean, ill-tempered people are credited with "kindness" for not doing mean and ill-tempered things to others. It doesn't actually have to be that there is an act of giving or sharing, just not being themselves... how... absolutely horrible.
But then... are we really so selfless as people that we can be credited with acts of kindness, for kindness sake? Hmm...
Well, I know I'm not that selfless, and too much of my "good" is tangled up in other issues, but on the other extreme is Elphaba's line from Wicked:
One question haunts and hurts
Too much, too much to mention:
Was I really seeking good
Or just seeking attention?
I have to admit when I'm working on a specific "project" I like to have someone notice. Mostly because I want to know that it's not time I've wasted... but I can also tell you that when being recognized in a group I actually rather loathe it--one person is generally enough to satisfy me.
I've considered reading Wicked, what caused you to take an interest?
Well, the book is great (I've read it four times!) but the line I quoted is from the musical. What first drew me to Wicked is the idea of telling the story from the point of view of the so-called Wicked Witch. She was, after all, a person. It's the same kind of thing that got me to sit through Star Wars Episodes 1-3, the story of Anakin's transformation into Vader (oh, I should be honest, Ewan McGregor was a Most Excellent Obi-Wan, and he made the movies for me...) Anyway, Wicked's worth the read, although it gets a bit... strange in places.
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