The Effects of Being Nice

I've been doing a lot of searching inside myself as some of my posts have already made clear I guess.  Tonight at work, I once again heard something I have heard many times before and this time I've been thinking about it and adding all the times up.  I am told very often how great/nice I am.  I make a strong effort to be "nice" to everyone.  Not just the people close to me or that I want to get something out of.  Everyone.  And it does take a conscience effort so it is very nice to hear.  But along with that in many instances it is followed with a descriptive on how when your nice your going to get screwed over.

Now, I believe myself to be a fairly intelligent man.  But I do not deny my ignorance to many things in life.  When I look back through life looking for the examples I can see many times where it shows that my being nice was taken advantage of.  Where I got metaphorically screwed.  I honestly don't care.  I would much rather spend my life being the poor, broken down, lonely, old man who has been nice and taken advantage of his whole life than to change that about myself.

This all leads me to wonder, why?  Why do we as a people allow this idea of being nice will hurt at some point be the truth?  Why do we take advantage of people who are nice to us?  Is it intentional or natural?  I mentioned being nieve/ignorant about goings on but I truly believe that everyone is a good person.  I truly mean that.  Every single person I've ever known or haven't known is a good person.  They've made poor decisions and had horrible things happen to them and have therefore had a different view which became harmful to others but inside of them is a genuinely good person.  If only there was a key or cleaning product to remove the fear, hatred, and hurt from them, the good would shine through.  Have I unintentionally "screwed" someone over that was being nice to me? I don't believe so but I have also learned that rarely do people confront others when they have an issue.  They prefer to "rumor" about it to their friends/coworkers/family.

I cannot find the answers to all these questions and I will not even try, if I'm to be honest.  But what an amazing difference it would make, I think, if we all put the extra effort in to not let the fear of being taken advantage of stop us from being nice.  Not let the resentment of past happenings of hurt cause us to in turn cause hurt to others.  It isn't easy but for some reason I think that it would be worth it for all of us if we could find the strength to do that.  I know I am going to make an even stronger effort of helping when I can and doing the right thing for others more.  It just makes me feel better and that is worth it to me.

James