Teaching kindergarten involves kindness all around. I had to calm down a frustrated 4-year-old boy and averted many tears by just listening to him. I let my 4th graders beat me in modified Squabble (although one boy got 14 words on his own without my help). I used to be able to do something nice for people like giving up my seat on the train or bus for people or open doors for people, but because my commute involves very short and crowded rides on both busses and the MRT I never have time sit down let alone give up my seat for someone, I find it harder and harder to really put myself in a situation where I can go out of my way of being overtly polite and kind to a stranger. I remember holding the door open for a father and daughter one night at a restaurant and the father looked down at his little girl who couldn’t have been much older than six and said to her in English, “What do you say?” She said thank you, fished into her pocket, and gave me a piece of candy. That’s one of my favorite Taiwan moments.
And who said there were no good writers of fiction in Taiwan… 
That story would bring a tear to a glass eye.
And who said there were no good writers of fiction in Taiwan…
That story would bring a tear to a glass eye.[/quote]
Well, that’s what my wife has taught our youngest daughter to do - however she’s not too happy about parting with the candy part.
Wolf, without your consistently grumpy posts, forumosa would be far too happy a place. You do in fact perform a valuable public service as our resident verbose curmudgeon.
I’d like to buy you a beer for reminding of my mother’s brother, my Uncle David, whom we all dislike but who never bores us.
Sorry fred, but the whole point of doing kind things is that you aren’t interested in publicity. Making it public cheapens the act, and if someone needs to read about others doing kind things in order to to kind things yourself, well, he or she wasn’t a very nice person to begin with.
Dear Tomas:
You are so right. We should not ever talk about anything positive since you all know who I am so I am only trying to get publicity for my selfless acts. Much better to endlessly argue about politics on the other threads or bitch about what a shitty boss, landlord, neighbor, coworker, etc. that we have.
Thanks though for making Thursday seem like Monday. Now surely we can try to get a few nice things that have happened to us or that we have done to others to remember that most people are basically decent (not like George W) 
[quote=“fred smith”]Dear Tomas:
You are so right. We should not ever talk about anything positive since you all know who I am so I am only trying to get publicity for my selfless acts. Much better to endlessly argue about politics on the other threads or bitch about what a shitty boss, landlord, neighbor, coworker, etc. that we have.
Thanks though for making Thursday seem like Monday. Now surely we can try to get a few nice things that have happened to us or that we have done to others to remember that most people are basically decent (not like George W) [/quote]
My, you are sensitive chap, aren’t you? I never accused you of trying to get publicity, and I’m all for positive thinking. I just don’t think that people who routinely perform acts of selfless kindness are much interested in publicizing such acts.
What do our other posters think?
You couldn’t be more correct Tomas. The very nature of selflessness means no self-a-grandizing.
That’s just one more reason why the Grateful Dead were and continue to be so goddamned cool. You never saw the Dead joining any highly publicized “we are the world” stuff. However, the Rex Foundation, run by the Grateful Dead, manages some 100 charities, such as SEVA. Many of these charities would set up outside Dead shows and distribute literature and sell stuff to raise funds. SEVA was an organization that donated money to research for treatments for vision impairments… they had a cool T-shirt with a design of the eyes of Seva (the Hindu god of vision or something) and the slogan “A Solution In Sight”.
The Rex Foundation still exists and still manages many different charities… as varied as SEVA and for preserving ocean habitats and reefs…
It was also cool when Lithuania first became independent from the USSR and they wanted to send a basketball team to the olympics… but they had no money to do so… the Dead donated uniforms and money to pay the costs for the Lithuanian team… the uniforms were tie-dyed!
I remember when the Dead played in Egypt, they donated all the money from the shows to the Egyptian Antiquities Society and to the schools in Egypt.
But how many of you ever heard of these good deeds? Not many, I bet… because they did these good deeds quietly.
OK, I’m done talking about the Dead for today. 
Gratefully.
Dead
I had thought that this meant any of us posters, not the Grateful Dead.
I try to brighten at least one woman’s day every day by telling her: ‘Nice butt!’
I do not know. Maybe it is the weather today (then again maybe not).
I have literally had to hold my tongue all day to keep from saying something condescending or sarcastic. I sent someone an article by email and then promptly (my fault) deleted it. When I asked the person to resend the article that I had sent them, they had no idea what I was talking about.
I then spent about half an hour explaining a list of three simple steps over and over again to a certain person I work with. First, Person A responded that X. But why didn’t B go to see X. B did not go to see X because X responded that X. You can see where I am going with this…
Anyway, I shall be very very very happy to go home and watch a teen beach flick to give my intelligent-conversation-starved brain some deep and philosophical concepts to grapple with.
Sandman
Why Blue Crush? Also, I really do need to see something mindless. I have been cross and nasty with taxi drivers, guards in buildings, waitresses, government employees.
To wit, I have sailed past guards who ignore everyone else but insist on stopping the one foreigner (might have SARS I guess), lecturing local cab drivers when given clear instructions they still F up, and showing great impatience with local wait staff when they ask for the fourth time whether I want to try to (****) whatever the special thing of the day is i.e. the chicken wings, the Absolute vodka cocktails in the bottle, etc. etc. Is there help? hope? for a bad case of Taiwanitis coming on?
Mate, if you consider “Blue Crush” to be an intellectually challenging film, your only remaining choice is to put on a drool bib and rent a Teletubbies tape. :mrgreen:
Another theory would suggest that there is no such thing as “seflessness”
Doing kindness to someone either publicly or privately brings pleasure to the person doing the kindness & hence is a selfish act. That doesnt make it wrong , it just doesnt make it selfless.
Quite interesting point Scuba. While it may make the person in question feel good, when does the posturing, hypocrisy, selfishness, self-aggrandizing of the act detract from the end result which is still good? Specific examples would be highly appreciated.
Fred, I think you misunderstood Scuba’s point. I don’t think it had anything to do with “posturing, hypocrisy, selfishness, self-aggrandizing” of any act. In fact I believe scuba was refering to good deeds that are done without any of that crap, such as people who anonymously donate millions to charity and never disclose it to anyone. I think that scuba’s point was that even those people actually do good for a selfish reason – to make themselves feel better.
I had intended to refrain from posting in this thread as it was clearly intended as a troll from the start. But your inability to understand scuba’s point has compelled me to pitch in. There, I did a good deed. I tried to enlighten you. 
Another theory would suggest that there is no such thing as “seflessness”
Doing kindness to someone either publicly or privately brings pleasure to the person doing the kindness & hence is a selfish act. That doesnt make it wrong , it just doesnt make it selfless.[/quote]
I am confused…how does bringing pleasure to someone result in selfishness?