In the world today, we are taught that being nice is weakness and that kindness is somehow impossible to juxtapose with ambition or power or success. I cannot count how many times I was told that I was “too nice,” or that I needed to “be a little meaner” because people would walk all over me. And yes, admittedly, that did happen. I have let people control me in ways that were detrimental to myself, and I have allowed my kindness to be exploited by those who were undeserving of it to begin with. I have had my heart broken over and over because I have loyally entrusted it into the care of those with clumsy hands who couldn’t keep their hold on it and simply let it break.

But I will never apologize for being “too nice,” because it is a concept the existence of which I cannot fathom.If this world were inhabited by only those that were cruel or indifferent to the suffering of those around them, what kind of world would it be?

People call it weakness, or perhaps naivety or ignorance. It is anything but: to be kind in a world that beats you down endlessly and unapologetically is not weak, it is a true testament of strength. I am not kind because I am unaware of the great tragedies that surround me, or because I hold out hope that I will not get hurt – I am fully cognizant of these things. I know what I am doing, putting my whole soul into people who may not return the gesture. It takes a great deal of strength to do so, and I will not apologize for that either.

Kindness is something that, in this world, is needed in abundance. There could never be a short supply of those who are kind, there could never exist a “too nice” person. I am not undermining myself by being kind to others, nor am I hindering my own progression, my own future successes. It hurts, sometimes, when you pour the entirety of your being into people or things that do not return the same courtesy. It hurts to give the world what you want it to give back, and to have it spit in your face and laugh as you fall.

But it is a pain that’s worth it, in the end. When I can look at my best friend’s face, at the smile that manages to curl at the edges of her mouth even as she’s crying. When I’m the first person people want to sit by, when tragedy strikes. I will never apologize for being too nice in a world that proves time and time again that it needs me to be.