When asked why he went out of his way to go to so many of his colleagues' funerals, an elderly philosopher once replied, "So they'll come to mine!" Sounds silly: without exception no one whose funeral s/he attends will ever reciprocate, eh?! But if everybody followed that logic, nobody would bother to go to any funeral (except their own). Establishing a reputation for caring and kindness bears fruit indirectly. It's like the "pay it forward" parable; the world's a better place. Societies that spiral toward revenge and retaliation prove that the theorem applies in the opposite direction too.

(cf. TitForTat (1999-10-31), TwoFaces (2002-02-10), ...) - ^z - 2010-11-18