You are nice

I look back fondly on my elementary school days. I enjoyed jumping off of swings and playing vicious games of foursquare. Amongst the happy memories is a darker one. The assignment would begin as all the others; put your name at the top of the page. Then to my horror we passed the paper to the kid next to us and were instructed to compliment them. Somehow I have never really gotten over the irony of forcing kids to praise everyone. Think, "You’re special; just like everyone else". I managed to figure out something to say for all the other kids that was at least mildly positive, probably something like "good luck with the paste eating". I will admit that, was a little excited to see what the other kids had said, forgetting that they were coerced to be complimentary. I read through my paper and discovered a general theme. At least half of the comments consisted of "you are nice" or a variation on the theme. This firmly established me as one of the nice guys. Growing up in the public school system, I discovered that while being nice wasn't too bad in elementary school it was essentially the kiss of death in middle school and high school. I haven't decided on college yet but the results thus far are discouraging. I watched as girls paid attention to guys that were jerks. I also watched as time and again the squeaky wheel got the oil, rather than the punch in the face I would have thought fitting. I really am nice, but even nice people have their limits. I guess what I saying is mean people suck. Meanness should be treated like leprosy where mean people would be forced to live in colonies with one another. Then they could shout "Unkind!" if a nice person was to wander too close. Think about it.