Kindness and generosity are easy (easier) if it's to a complete stranger or at least someone you don't know intimately. It's easy to donate money to a charitabl

Kindness and generosity are easy (easier) if it's to a complete stranger or at least someone you don't know intimately. It's easy to donate money to a charitable organization or volunteer somewhere. It's easy to offer kind words to a co-worker or to help a friend move or with their rent even if the fact that they need your help is due to poor planning or bad decisions on their part. With someone who you don't share every moment and intricacy of your life with it's easy to see their problems as external - They have a bad landlord, they are poor, they had a bad childhood, they aren't as fortunate as me. When you know someone well, you're more likely to see their problems in light of what you know about them. Everyone has long-standing endemic issues. Maybe their bad with money. Maybe they are impatient or easily angered. Perhaps they are insecure and cover it up with many little white lies. And when you've dealt with the other persons issues and failings for long enough you realize that the person is not going to change. You're the same way of course but you still see your problems as external or at least not as big. Love is something that comes from an individual. It is generated and has it's source in you. The world outside of you does not affect your love. Not your circumstances, not another person. When you create a piece of software or a building or drawing or a delicious meal you reshape the resources around you into something new. You turn the clay into a pot or the machine into a system that does work. When you love you use no external material and therefore, love is an act of creation. It is the highest form of creativity