Video (Holiday Spirit)

[frosty_mind]

[Emma's tone of voice is calm. Her body language is tightly controlled, and for those very good at reading it, troubled.]Well, the spirit of generosity was an interesting experience while it lasted. Is there anyone else with an interest in discussing their experience with it

Comments

Re: Video

[frosty_mind]

There was a city-wide outbreak of generosity on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday morning. I found myself ... surprised by the little opportunities to be generous that I would normally not only have neglected but never noticed in the first place.

Re: Video

[frosty_mind]

I'm not surprised that I failed to notice opportunities to do little things for strangers - I don't expect to notice everything. I'm surprised that wanting to find those opportunities, without even actively looking for them, made as much of a difference as it did.

[A soft chuckle.] I expect observation bias, even from myself - it's the degree which takes me by surprise. [OOC: and if anyone's good enough at reading body language, the extent of this also has her somewhat dismayed.]

Re: Video

[frosty_mind]

Emma Frost, yes.

Surprised in a bad way. Right now it feels like I've been willfully blind to opportunities to do small things at absolutely trivial costs due to laziness, and I'm annoyed at willful blindness and loathe laziness, especially in myself.

[She shrugs.] As I say, small things. If I'd chosen not to do them it wouldn't trouble me much.

Re: Video

[frosty_mind]

Courtesy ... isn't quite what I mean. Giving a seat to an elderly or injured person is courteous. Giving one to someone who just desperately wants to finish the chapter in his book before he reaches work is generous.

Enough of courtesy is codified that it can be largely habit. Generosity is ... more nebulous.

Re: Video

[frosty_mind]

Mmmm.... Generosity can be bending over backwards for people. Or it can be bending half an inch for people. It's not so much the size of the gift - it's not as if standing for three stops was a particular inconvenience - it's that the recipient didn't have a claim on it. To be generous to a friend you have to do big things, or at least medium-sized ones -- your friend has a claim on small considerations. By contrast, small gifts to a stranger can be considered generous.

Re: Video

[frosty_mind]

Well, the effects of this were strongest in the Core's general vicinity. I also believe it's -- maybe not sane, in human terms, but intelligent.

Re: Video

[frosty_mind]

Not a half-bad analogy. I wish I knew how it chose its experiments.

Re: Video

[frosty_mind]

No idea, and I wish I had one. It could happen to any of us at any time.