Don't Be Surprised // Kindness

I have had a recent encounter with a classmate that shocked me! We were having a little conversation in our seats in a lecture hall before class started and she said to me that she was so surprised that I was nice. This honestly isn't the first time that someone has told me thing. I mean, I guess it is good that someone thinks I am nice. But why was she not expecting me to be nice? Was it something about me? The way I look or dress? Do I look too pretty to be a nice person? Do I look too much like a grumpy bum to be nice? Is it the way I am siting and act in class? I just don't understand why people are surprised by kindness and that I am a nice person. I can not be the only person who has been on either end of this interaction. I am sure many of you have thought a person was going to act one way and they acted another or you have "surprised" people by acting a different way than they expected. Why is kindness a surprise to people? I do not have an answer or a solution to this experience. But I do want to express that this most recent conversation has made me realize that this is not they way things should be. People should expect kindness and be surprised when someone is mean! It is not being dumb or week to be kind or except kindness in return. Don't expect the worse out of people or assume others will only act in a certain way. If you approach a conversation with someone in a way that is defensive or shows them hat you are expecting or bracing for them to not be nice to you then they will most likely not be nice to you since they sense you are being combative. I am not saying to let people walk all over you and not acknowledge when someone is being mean or unkind to you, but I am saying to not go into a conversation expecting to me met with unkindness. Until the other person have given you any reason to know or act otherwise, expect kindness and give kindness.

-Abigail