Am I too nice?

Ryan informed me this evening that I was too nice.  I believe he said something like “You’re too nice, I miss the old Rob!”  Perhaps he was smoking something he shouldn’t have been!  Ryan and I have a lot in common.  We are both VERY sarcastic and tend to see a lot of negative in things.  I don’t see this as bad, because I don’t think I’m bad.  This is the way that I have been for most of my life (my mother seems to think I was cute and sweet when I was young, but I don’t remember that).  I must admit, that I have been becoming more and more “nice”, so-to-speak, over the years.  I credit that to the influence of my wife.  I have learned to follow her example of politeness, honoring and general nicety.  I have also learned because of her bitching about how mean and sarcastic I am (see, even now I can’t stop at just saying she’s a good person, which of course she is).  I can also credit that to my ever growing faith.  Church seems to take the edge off of you after a while.  Something about loving others as you love yourself.  So maybe that’s it, perhaps I’ve learned to love myself more over the years (which I think is actually true, but is a whole different topic I don’t want to discuss with the masses). 
So what makes me different to Ryan now as opposed to four months ago?  I hang out with a lot of infectiously “nice” people.  Most of my coworkers are “nice”.  As mentioned previously, my wife is “nice”.  The campus ministry gang just oozes “nice”.  There are people who love to dole out hugs, people who see the positive in everything, people who will do anything for you just because, and people who generally just can’t help being “nice” (I won’t mention any names, but you know who you are).  Of course there are others, like me, who throw in a healthy dose of sarcasm so as keep “nice” at an acceptable level so everyone’s heads don’t explode.  I suppose, the more “nice” you are around, the more it starts to soak into your being.

Now, I’m not going soft.  I can still give out back-handed compliments and roll out a guttural “baaaaaa”.  I still don’t think the glass is half full (and if it were, I’d drink it so that it was more than half empty).  Sarcasm is in my blood, and I don’t think it’s ever going away.  So Ryan, I may be a bit more “nice” than I was last year, and that’s probably a good thing, but I’m still ready to dish it out with the best of them!