People Propagating Pleasure through Pleasantness

Hello dear readers,

I'd like to apologize for the drought that has been the last few days, I've been busy coming home for break.  Normally I'll try to post four times a week, but for the next month or so I'll be keeping it to three.  It is vacation time after all.

In other news, the blog is currently up to 199 total views and 2 followers.  Thank you to everyone for reading and making me feel good about myself.  Now, without further adieu:

"In this world, you must be oh so smart, or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant." - Jimmy Stewart in Harvey

For those poor, unfortunate souls among my readers who are unaffiliated with the life and works of Jimmy Stewart, or even with the movie Harvey, go out now and as soon as you can watch Harvey.  It's not only one of Stewart's personal favorites of the movies he made, it truly is a wonderful film and, although not a Christmas movie itself, it's message is thoroughly appropriate to the emotionally heightened and stressful holiday season.

I'm willing to admit that the quote is, like most folk wisdom, both an oversimplification and a false dichotomy.  That being said, it does bring some wonderful, pleasant, and wonderfully pleasant philosophical notions to the table.  As I understand it, the basic choice which the quote tries to outline is this:

In all occasions of human interaction, there is a fundamental choice presented to the agent in question.  On the one hand, there is an opportunity to exploit the individual at hand in one way or another: to make ourselves feel smarter, stronger, or otherwise superior to the individual, to procure some item or service from them, or to otherwise seek to gain something from them with little or no consideration to their own position in life or the consequences of the exploitative action.  On the other hand, there is an opportunity to genuinely relate with the individual in question and to seek their benefit.

I could blab on and on for several paragraphs about using people as means instead of ends, but the basic working principle at hand is this: be considerate this Christmas season.  It can be hard to be nice to people, and it's often tempting to belittle those with whom we are close because we know their dirty laundry.  Nonetheless, most of time, being nice to people (especially when you don't want to) makes everyone happier in the long run.  

Speaking from personal experience, the surprising thing is that really, you're the one most likely to have a better time.

It's been wonderful,

J.R.M.C.