Today you, tomorrow me
Yesterday, I went to the grocery store and got prepared food from the hot bar. It was a bit awkward at first because of my accent, but I had a brief friendly interaction with the lady there afterwards. I only noticed when I got home that she'd (probably intentionally in retrospect) given me an extra piece of chicken.
Sometimes, it's the little things that get to you. When people are nice to you without even an expectation of seeing you again... in my case, the world just becomes that much brighter.
His affection gauge maxed out in a flash.
I think about this phrase from a LN occasionally when I'm going about life. There are definitely ways in which I think the phrase has applied to me.
Once, at an ice skating rink, a friend commented that I have a soft spot for well-behaved kids. Well, I do, actually. The same goes for seeing parents being good parents. People who are nice to animals, like the random people that I tried rescuing a seemingly stuck cat together with. People who are nice without reason to be. I can't help maxing out my affection gauge with people like that.
The same friend once asked what I looked for in people. I think I can still give the same answer: if they are kind, nothing else really matters. To mold yourself to a worldview which tries to see the best in others, and to work to make that a reality at both personal and global levels... I think little Fauntleroy would approve.
I wonder if I was that person for the lady at Hunan Bar, some weekends ago. I think it was a slightly weird experience for them to have someone come back and say, you should have charged me more. She sounded so genuine when she said that she'd remember this and that I was a good person. To me, I am living my life in the way that my parents have raised me, and in the example that they have set. As I grew up, I learned that many people have exploited my parents; unpaid wages, outstanding debts. But I am deeply and intensely proud of them for choosing to be good people who look past that. Continuing to believe in others, continuing to listen, continuing to care.
Recently, I also had dinner with some friends, mostly from 888. (Maybe lucky numbers are a thing? I've only had good experiences from that class.) Lorelei also forgot to charge a guy his drink, but he immediately went to get that sorted out. I didn't mention it, but it made me really happy to find others who were like this too.
Objectively, I have become much more jaded and cynical over the years. A petty complaint with notes of truth: "wrong race wrong religion wrong nationality wrong gender", no matter where I've lived, there's always been some reason that I've been excluded from things that I was once interested in. But even so, I really do want to live in a world where everyone can be trusting and naive.
Whenever I am in this mood, I find myself rewatching a childhood episode of anime. Life was simpler back then.
The world is not so simple. You can't save people with kindness alone.
But those [people who had passed], I'm sure they were saved by your kindness until the day they died.