Two words that are often confused

 Let’s just take a moment to distinguish between two adjectives that people often think mean the same thing, but which are actually totally separate:

Nice vs. Kind

Nice: 

adjective

1. Pleasant, agreeable, satisfactory; (of a person) pleasant in manner, good-natured

2. Fine or subtle; requiring careful thought or attention

Kind:

adjective

1. Having or showing a friendly, considerate, or generous nature

2. Affectionate or loving

A person can be nice, but does not have to necessarily be kind, but a person who is kind often does appear nice on the outside, too. 

Here’s the distinction:

Nice-ness refers to a person’s outward social appearance. They are often those who are the most polite, friendly, and charming, and while that CAN be an outward manifestation of an inward nature, it doesn’t necessarily have to be. 

A person can be nice and friendly and charming but also incredibly inherently selfish. However, kindness refers not to how someone looks, but to what motivates their inward nature; namely, whether they are moved to consider and care to act in the best interest of others. Someone’s niceness can be discerned from a brief engagement in conversation; someone’s kindness is only apparent after living in real friendship or relationship with them over time, and seeing them make their choices with what’s best for others they care about in mind. 

I have seen so many people who are overly concerned about looking like “nice” people, but who don’t recognize their own selfishness entrenched so deeply in their choices. And I am consistently disappointed by them.