I’ve learned something about myself over these 69 years, and it’s not always easy to admit.
I get burned — not because I’m too trusting, not because I’m naïve, but because I expect others to treat me the way I treat them. That’s the part that stings.

See, I go through life with a simple mindset:
If I can help someone, I help them.
If I can be kind, I’m kind.
I don’t put price tags on favors. I don’t sit there calculating, “Well, if I do this for them, what do I get back?” That’s just not how I’m wired.

But here’s the truth I had to swallow:
Most people aren’t wired like that.

I used to think, “If I’m honest, they’ll be honest. If I show kindness, they’ll show it back.”
And when they didn’t… when they took advantage, or reacted with suspicion, or forgot the kindness the moment they walked away… yeah, it hurt.

Not because of what they did,
but because of what I expected.

I realize now that my mistake wasn’t the kindness — it was the expectation that people would be like me. That they’d think like me. That they’d value things the same way I do.

Life doesn’t work that way.

People come from different backgrounds, different hurts, different mindsets. Some people live in survival mode, where every act of kindness feels like a trap. Some were never taught how to trust. Some just aren’t generous by nature. And some simply don’t even notice what’s being done for them.

But here’s the part I’m never changing:

I’d rather get burned occasionally
than become a cold person who stops caring.

I won’t let someone else’s behavior turn me bitter.
I won’t let their walls build mine.
I won’t stop being who I am just because someone else couldn’t match it.

Kindness, at its core, is a gift — not a contract.

I give because that’s who I am.
And the moment I stopped expecting anything back… the hurt disappeared.

I still get disappointed sometimes, sure. I’m human. But I no longer take it personally. People are walking around with their guard up, suspicious of anything that looks too good to be true. That’s on them, not me.

So I’ll keep being me.
And if once in a while I get burned?
I’ll take that burn over a cold heart any day.