Generosity

I am generally an extremely generous person. I think it gets me in trouble a lot because I tend to get used...A LOT.

A friend of mine recently implied that I'm generous in an attempt to "buy friends" but I don't think so. There are plenty of people that I am friendly with and later become generous with, but its not like I start out being generous.

My family likes me whether I'm generous or not. My sister answers the phone whether I'm rich or poor....

There are definitely people who use my generosity and there are tons of people who only call when they need a buck, but those people are easily avoided...usually.

Regardless, I don't feel that I use my generosity to buy friends. I also think that being upset because someone abuses your generosity doesn't mean you're upset that they weren't able to be bought. I think its perfectly fine to say "Hey I have been more than generous with you, you'd think you could be a better friend to me".

For instance, I am both generous with my money and my time. I had a friend that I was extremely generous with both time and money and when I needed her the most, she bailed so fast it made my head spin. Being upset that someone you have treated well treats you poorly in return is not being upset that they couldn't be bought, its being upset that they are mistreating you when you've been nothing but kind and generous to them.

....

Anyway, I see some of the same traits developing in Audrial and it worries me. I don't want her to experience the pain I feel when someone I've been so kind to mistreats me. I also don't want her to miss out on the feeling that being generous gives. sigh...