Flawless: all of it!

B & b

“Ben,   I am just smiling thining about my beautiful earings and I thought you should know.  They are currently safe at home in their little box but i wish they were in my ears, however,  I was too paranoid to wear them to work today!  Thank you darling.  You make me so incredibly happy.  See you in about 8 hours…..   love b”

That was a beautiful email I received this morning.  It is currently the best thing about today.  It may stay that way until she gets home.

I was going to write a philosophical, um, treatise, about the different layers of why a person does nice things, but I’ve already run through them in my head and I am now bored of the topic.  But I will say that the pleasure I derive in making her happy may be no less than the pleasure of receiving the aforementioned earrings.  Perhaps that is why I couldn’t stand to wait for her to have a bad day and so adorably say, ‘I need something shiny!’ and give them to her then.  I think I lasted for about 20 minutes until I gave in and hid one in her popcorn.

Well, I was going to delve into the subject of what really motivates people to do nice things.  I suppose it breaks down to a reward system.  But I think a reward system is too cynical and simplistic.  People like to stop at, “Well you feel good when you do this so that’s why you do it!”  Yeah right.  That’s a component of it but that way of thinking starts you down a road that turns everyone into memes and abdicates the possibility of soul, spirit or God.

What I will say is that it makes me feel good to infer pleasure empathically which is itself capacitated by a loving relationship.  And my conscious decision was to please her.

I guess it’s interesting to take things like motivation apart, but as long as it’s all good…who cares!

Here’s a trick: who am I writing this blog for?  Dun dun duuuuuuun!