DWill wrote:Ant's example is interesting. He's doing what so many bumper stickers have told us to do--practice random acts of kindness (I don't know if he also covers the senseless beauty part). Could a piece of the reaction he gets be based on our culture in this particular moment in history? Sometimes we assume universality when the phenomenon is culture-based.

What he does definitely places a seeming burden on the recipient to reciprocate, so that could be why the reaction isn't joyful. If he told his coworkers, "Hey, I just found a bunch of these gift cards on the street! Have one", the sense of obligation would be less.

With family and friends, the rules are more relaxed, fortunately. We don't tend to worry so much about the running score.