Edit: while I’m at it, does anyone know what I should do when I’m waiting for a coincidence/adventure to happen, but it never comes? I can’t really go outside and arrange for it to happen because I don’t know what I’m looking for.
“No good deed goes unpunished.”
Nope.
Nearly every single time in my life that I have expended a significant or even massive amount of time, money, attention, intellectual or emotional capacity toward someone, solved their problems for them, it has been taken for granted, become expected, never reciprocated, and most of the people I helped went on to rope me into situations where I was even more on the hook, or they’d abuse me verbally or physically.
I finally concluded that none of the idiots in my life actually cared about me at all and just left.
Don’t avoid being good to others, as this truism suggests, just ensure you’re being good to yourself as well.
I’ve heard this truism my whole life, and glibly repeated it myself at least a few times. But we must acknowledge that it expresses a morally defeatist attitude that poisons the person who actually lives by it.
Instead you can reconcile kindness by being more observant. Some “good deeds” aren’t actually that good, since their extended effects amount to an unkindness to yourself or those you love.
For example, let’s say someone asks you to donate to a just cause, or loan them some money in a difficult time. If doing so means your family goes hungry or can’t afford clothes, it might not be such a good deed after all.
More subtle examples involve your time, such as helping someone by staying late at work, or spending hours listening to someone who really should get professional help instead.
Ultimately, it’s not true that “no good deed goes unpunished,” but even if it were, it doesn’t matter, because helping people is its own reward.
“Life sucks and then you die” - Vince McMahon
“I have the right to wipe my ass with a pinecone, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.”
„Bees don’t waste their time explaining flies that honey tastes better than shit.“
“you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you find you get what you need”. - the great philosopher Jagger
I may not always get exactly what I want, but if I put in the effort and do my best, I find that sometimes what I want is not what I needed in the end.
