Posted BY: Howard Sachs
Now, after a long life, I’ve come to understand how common it is for many basically nice, well-meaning people to do terrible things in their lives. When few — that is, on the micro-level — are involved, it may destroy families and communities. When many do it, whole civilizations may be destroyed. It is why, particularly on the macro level, I care little about niceness. As regards people I rely on outside my home — presidents, teachers, airline pilots, doctors, architects, investment advisers, my rabbi — I don’t care fundamentally if I’d enjoy hanging out with them. I care about their work product.
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Many, on the other hand, care deeply about niceness. They regularly get blinded by its superficiality and the destructiveness it may conceal. They suffer — we all do — the consequences.
Not being naïve and led astray by niceness is an important rule of life. It brings clarity to how one should approach, especially, the many nice folks in our lives now doing terrible things to our country.
