The Dilemma of the Kind Person

Published on Jul 4, 2016 (updated Feb 5, 2024), filed under philosophy. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon.)

Imagine a fine human being who has a laudable goal. She wants to become a genuinely, cordially, most truly kind person. So she works on her objective, looks into and explores herself, discusses and brainstorms with others, learns from experts, reads and studies, carefully monitors her progress, until one day, after years of effort, she is such a phenomenally kind person that she has, unknowingly but matter-of-factly, become the kindest person in the whole world.

Unfortunately, then, with her wonderful development comes a big surprise: Our heroine finds that everyone, every single person, has somehow become rude. With her growing kinder and kinder, everyone else, in comparison, turned ruder and ruder. The dream she fulfilled of growing herself into a beautifully kind person has also manifested as a nightmare.

_ Yet what has happened, mustn’t there be more to this—after all, our kind friend has surely not learned for naught? (And, most likely, someone must have brought this dilemma up before? Who?) But all I wish to hint at with this story of the kind person is something I could so far vaguely feel but not entirely grasp: how what drives our growth may only shift, not diminish, the challenges we’re facing. One more reason for why philosophy is so, fruscinating.

Check out my much more plain views on self-development by getting a copy of How to Work on Oneself.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies (e.g., Google); I’m an active web and tool developer (code optimization, digital defense), a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and a book author (O’Reilly, Frontend Dogma).

I love trying things—in web development and engineering management, but also in politics and philosophy, where I hold to one idea in particular: that we can only be well if we take good care of everyone. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my perspectives and experiences. (Please share feedback: Interpret charitably, keep it friendly, but do be critical.)