Love Thy Neighbor: Why Have We Become So Suspicious Of Kindness? Most people, as they grow up now, secretly believe that kindness is a virtue of losers. But agreeing to talk about winners and losers is part and parcel of the phobic avoidance, the contemporary terror, of kindness. Because one of the things the enemies of kindness never ask themselves - and this is now an enemy within all of us - is why we feel it at all. Why are we ever, in any way, moved to be kind to other people, not to mention to ourselves? Why does kindness matter to us?
posted by jason's_planet on Jan 3, 2009 - 71 comments

Why should you risk your own life to save another human being? Maybe altruism in innate, like a bird's pretty song, or is it something that must be learned?
posted by four panels on Dec 5, 2008 - 62 comments

Despite the much-maligned economy, people are seemingly starting the holiday season early this year in Loveland, Colorado by "paying it forward" for strangers' coffee at a Starbucks drive-through. This has happened in 2006 and similar events were debated last year on the blue, which led me to believe it was not a real phenomenon. CNN has the video version of the first link with interviews of those involved. Maybe it's not a PR stunt after all.
posted by knile on Nov 18, 2008 - 75 comments

"You cannot, for instance, praise the shoes of just one player. You must praise the entire group's shoes."^[1] Assassin games have been featured before on MetaFilter, but here's one with a twist. To assassinate your target, you must compliment them with their specific compliment. But you don't know your target, or even who's part of the game, so innocent bystanders can get caught in the crossfire.
posted by fvw on Sep 21, 2006 - 26 comments

"Let me help you. Step down. Here we go!
The drum major's widow! She's worn his coat since the day he died. The horse's head has lost an ear! That's the florist laughing. He has crinkly eyes. In the bakery window, lollipops! Smell that! They're giving out melon slices. Sugarplum ice cream! We're passing the butcher. Ham, 79 francs. Spareribs, 45! Now the cheese shop. Picadors are 12.90. Cabecaus, 23.50. A baby is watching a dog that's watching the chickens! Now we're at the kiosk by the metro. I'll leave you here. Bye!"
posted by MzB on Apr 23, 2003 - 12 comments