Learn to play nice

Not finished.

Being nice means to love even your enemies as much as yourself. Choosing to be nice is a fundamental decision and probably one of the most important prerequisites for the survival of human civilisation on this planet. The most urgent challenge of humankind is to learn to be nice at international level.

• A social system needs mechanisms for staying balanced, i.e. for preventing the strong from getting too strong, and the weak from getting too weak.

• Mercy is when the stronger refrains from exploiting the weaker.

But how to recognize whether somebody plays nice? Miodrag Krunić took a list of 25 “undeniable traits that make someone a nice person” (from Emil Shour) and found out that only 13 versus 12 of these traits are helpful in a prisoner’s dilemma.

Here is their list of 25 symptoms (I tried to optimize the formulation…):

1. compliment others

2. be honest

3. show good manners

4. be forgiving

5. be generous

6. be patient

7. be positive

8. be interested in others

9. be thoughtful

10. be grateful

11. make friends easily

12. be consistent

13. be humble

14. be integer

15. accept others

16. practice empathy

17. own your flaws (recognize your mistakes)

18. be fair (seek justice for all)

19. be selfless (go the extra mile. lend a helping hand to those who need it)

20. be kind to loved ones

21. light up the room

22. be authentic

23. be passionate

24. remember what others say

25. be nice to yourself

But these are only symptoms. God doesn’t judge by appearance (behaviour) but inspects our heart (attitudes, motivation).