Children grow up hearing it’s important to be nice to other people. Adults don’t explain, though, why we’re supposed to be nice. There’s just a vague reference to “being a good person.”

They also don’t clarify the difference between being nice and being a doormat. If you don’t know the difference, you’re going to feel isolated.

I was on Facebook the other day and read this post on Mark’s page:

I’ve come to realize I really have no idea who my real friends are. People tell me how great of a guy I am when I ask them to dinner or out for a drink, only to then be asked to loan them money or just take them out for dinners. I’ve probably given 5 digits to those I thought really had an interest in my friendship (or in dating me) only to have never gotten paid back, never given an offer to treat me to dinner, never given a thank you card. Or they disappear shortly after being given something. Just plain nothing. I do it out of the kindness of my heart and don’t expect anything back.
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