Being nice vs being good

It’s nice to be nice, but it’s even better to be good.

Do you go down the good path or the nice path? Photo by Oliver Roos on Unsplash

The nice mindset and the good mindset may seem like the same thing on the surface, but underneath that soft-fluffy exterior are two completely different animals.

When we’re nice without proper intent, we’re looking to make an investment from which we can immediately gain. Even if that gain is self-satisfaction of successfully making someone happy. “I did that”, “I did a good deed today”. I’m not trying to say not to be nice, but sometimes we’re doing it as a means to a not necessarily righteous end. In my opinion, a nice person is just doing nice things for one of three reasons:

1. To make themselves feel like a better person
2. To be liked by others (I can be guilty of this if I’m totally honest)
3. To use as a future emotional bargaining chip (knowingly or unknowingly)

If you find yourself being nice for the above reasons, then you may be a “nice” person. Again, the point I’m trying to make here is that being nice, is nice, but the nice action taken is not necessarily the right thing to do. For example, it’d be nice to let your friend cheat off your test, but not exactly the right thing to do.