I want to wrestle with my conscience a wee bit. You see, the other day I was on my way home from picking up a pizza for dinner when I was stopped in the street by someone who asked for a slice. Naturally, I thought this to be a very strange thing to ask of a stranger, but I thought, perhaps, that they were simply very hungry. It was an excruciatingly hot day as well, and perhaps they needed some food to keep up their energy. So, I said, “Why not?” I could spare a slice, after all, for someone who really needs it. Shortly, however, I would live to regret it. The interaction got “weirder” to the point where I excused myself, and as I did, this person threw away their slice and whacked the box right in my hand, at which point I just left. I’d tried to do a nice thing, but I wouldn’t stand for that. Of course, my pizza was ruined, but believe it or not that’s not what really upset me. So I was out 12 bucks—who cares? I have ramen and some lovely pork dumplings at home. I could still eat and be merry. Rather, what truly upset me was that my ethics were challenged. By contrast, the pizza was immaterial.

Let’s run through the scenario then, shall we? Suppose someone walks up to you and asks for some food that you can spare them. What should you do? Well, obviously we don’t like starving people. (Mind, I don’t mean to say that I don’t like people who just so happen to be starving but rather that I don’t like the fact that there are people who are starving.) So, naturally, if I am within my means to alleviate this stain on our society in some way, then I should. That is the right thing to do.

However, if someone sees me freely give food to another, what should I say if they ask for some as well? Am I to keep giving away free slices of pizza until I haven’t a penny left to spend? Surely not! But then why make an exception for this individual? Were I to do that, I would just be picking and choosing who receives the blessings of my charity and who does not. In other words, it would be arbitrary. I would essentially be in the place of God, choosing on a whim who should receive my charity. So, maybe I should forgo this charity out of a sense of fairness to others, although I believe this to be a very shoddy argument. Shall I abandon any care I might bestow upon my fellow human beings out of some moral idealism as opposed to pragmatism? Certainly not! Is not any good that I can do better than no good at all? It most definitely is!

Even with that in mind, though, I could not help but think that maybe it would be permissible for me to refuse this request because it was somewhat out of the ordinary. Is this something we should expect of our fellow human beings? This can be a tricky world to navigate, after all. How do I know they’re trustworthy? How do I know that I’m not being conned out of a pizza slice for whatever reason? These questions did run through my mind alongside one other: if it were me, how would I like to be treated? Instinctively I weighed this ethical principle known as the Golden Rule—a rule typically associated with the sayings of Jesus but which in fact goes back to an ancient Egyptian tale of the third millennium BC—above any other consideration. So, however weird it was, I said, “Okay.”

Obviously, the ending to this situation ended was not that which I had in mind. I walked away somewhat aghast at what had happened, somewhat more cynical. Maybe it was a stupid thing to do. Maybe I was just naive. Maybe my ethics made me a doormat, and that was something I didn’t want to think about myself. Naturally, a person wants to be respected as a human being, not treated as some kind of “thing” for the enjoyment of others. I did a nice thing, and was taken advantage of. Should I have been any less nice? Should I be in the future? While I was still feeling frustrated, I might have said yes; but you know, now I would probably say the opposite. I believe that small acts of kindness can go a long way to making the world a better place. I think that we should all make a greater effort to understand and respond to the needs of others in our society, particularly now that many are suffering what many are calling a “loneliness epidemic”. That’s bonafide solidarity, comrade!

Nevertheless, I believe I’ve made it clear that this is not an easy path. Not everyone is grateful. Not everyone is sincere. Some people will repay kindness with abuse, violence, anger, or disrespect of some other kind. But if we were to let that harden our hearts—that is, if the failings of others were to make us any less kind—what kindness could we expect the world to afford us then?