it's nice to be nice

You ever notice how emotions are contagious? There are plenty of ways to experience or observe this kind of reaction, in fact I once read an anecdote (possibly an email forward) about this idea. This is the basic premise...

An office secretary is becoming disgruntled because her work environment is depressing and everyone seems to always be in a poor mood. This environment is affecting her non-work life because she is getting stressed out from having such a negative influence on her for 8 hours a day. She almost considers quitting, but instead decides that before taking such a drastic measure, she will instead try to be more cheerful and nice at work - mainly in the hopes that acting/feeling that way will make her feel better. Well it turns out that being courteous, helpful, cheery, and smiling not only makes her feel better, but others who interact with her can't help but feel a little better. Soon the entire office is a more upbeat, happy environment - all because one person decided to break the cycle despite the seemingly overwhelming situation.

I think it just goes to show that whether we share and exhibit positive or negative feelings towards one another, the effect is the same. The way we treat others starts or continues a domino effect of continuing and essentially encouraging that frame of mind. Joy, love, compassion, kindness, and concern all contribute to a more hospitable and positive environment wherever you share them. In contrast, you can easily promote a negative, draining environment by being condescending, insulting, indifferent, or simply refusing to engage at all. Somewhere in all this is a parallel to the way Christians should engage in the world... but I'll leave that for your own introspection and consumption.