(no subject)
last wednesday, karl and jess (summer student) and i went sampling in the arboretum. karl had told us to meet him in his office on wednesday morning so we could go over stuff and then set out together. so i arrived at nine on the dot and there he was sitting behind his computer in full sampling gear - including a tilley hat (i would link this to a picture but howHOW??) (it's a positively outdoorsy kind of hat that you would find on fishermen, for example). anyway, he sees me looking at his hat, and says something along the lines of, yeah when students see me in my hat they always snicker but this has been my sampling hat for so long that i have to wear it even if it makes me look like a nerd. and i say something along the lines of, no i like your hat and you don't look like a nerd. and he says, naw you're just being nice...you're just a nice person. and i couldn't help but be pleased that he thought i was a nice person, and that - muahahaha - i've deceived yet another one.
i also couldn't help but think how easy it is to be "nice" in small, superficial ways like this, and how much harder it is to be TRULY nice in bigger and more important ways. like, it is easy to be nice to people at work and say things like, oh i like your hat, and much harder to be nice to the people who matter most, and say things like, oh i hope you're okay, because they matter so much that you hate them for being imperfect and vulnerable and mortal. or is that just me?
i also couldn't help but think how easy it is to be "nice" in small, superficial ways like this, and how much harder it is to be TRULY nice in bigger and more important ways. like, it is easy to be nice to people at work and say things like, oh i like your hat, and much harder to be nice to the people who matter most, and say things like, oh i hope you're okay, because they matter so much that you hate them for being imperfect and vulnerable and mortal. or is that just me?