Is it worth it to be nice ?

Since young, we were always taught to be kind to one another; we were taught to be nice to one another. This stems from the believe that being nice helps to refine one’s moral compass. Most parents always try to cultivate values in their children in hopes that they will grow up to be well-cultured individuals.

However, as we grow up in this ever-manipulative world, we begin to learn that sometimes, being nice only increases the chances of exploitation; essentially, being nice only makes you a prey. And predators are on constant watch for preys whom they can make use of for their own benefits.

When you help someone out of pure sincerity, you just don’t expect anything in return. You help someone because you really have the willingness of helping people. Within your means, you move heaven and earth to help someone, expecting nothing in return.

On the other hand, some people do not realise that people who help, choose to help. Nobody puts a gun to their head and forces them to help. People who help others are using their time to do it when that time could have been used for something else. They choose to sacrifice that time for themselves to help others.

Continuing to help others this way, continuing to always put the needs of others ahead of you gets emotionally and physically draining. When at the end of the day, you realise that everyone else is happy, everyone else gets what they want except for you, you start to wonder if it was worth it to even help them in the first place to begin with. And you just sit by yourself, exhausted, thinking that you could have just spent the time you used to help others, on yourself.

The worse part of it all is that deep down, you know you can’t blame others. You only got yourself to blame for you made the choice to help others.

“Don’t stop being nice because of bad people”

If this world had more people who are nicer, the world will be a better place to live in. You wouldn’t have to worry about getting exploited or manipulated. As we all know it, that’s just pure fantasy

Because the reality is that, the world that we live in, will NEVER be the fantasy that we hoped it to be. People out there have their own scheming agendas to achieve and are willing to do anything for it, even if it means taking advantage of those closest to them.

And the more you are nice, the more that others see you are nice, the more vulnerable you become; You become a sitting duck, in a lake full of famished crocodiles.

Even with your closest friends, friends whom you taught you could trust, can turn on you. It’s a survival instinct to take care of yourself first, when it comes down to a choice.

So was it worth it being nice ? Was it worth it to sacrifice your time to help others ? Was it worth it putting the needs of others ahead of yours ?

Only time will tell.

But, do you want to gamble with the time you have helping others ? Or do you want to use that time to help the person you know won’t turn his back against you ? And that person is the person you see in the mirror everyday.

~A