I am a nice guy, not the "let anyone walk over me" type but more of the "try to do the right thing without hurting anyone" type. I was hurt a lot for the first decade or so of my life, and I was pretty pathetic until I was 12 or 13. I was very intelligent and could beat people up if I wanted to, but I let people steamroll me all the time. Like I said, I got hurt a lot, but eventually I became thicker skinned. I'm 16 now, and I am myself, online and off. I do whatever I think is right regardless, but I try to keep from hurting other people whenever possible. I don't date, and the only interaction based on flirting that I do is rejecting somebody else's flirting as gently as possible. I seek friendship, not romance. However, I don't have a problem with telling people that I love them, that they're great/wonderful, etc. Which can be problematic since people sometimes misinterpret me as having romantic intentions. I have very few people that I consider friends, but I still try to be as kind as possible to strangers and acquaintances. Sometimes, the people I consider good acquaintances think that I consider them to be my friends, and all because I'm nice to them. Something like that actually happened this week:
I made a comment on a girl's pic on facebook and out of the blue she said the she hoped that I didn't think we were friends or anything. I told her that we were just acquaintances, and she blew her top. I didn't lose my temper, explained, and apologized if she found my statement offensive. The irony? This is the girl who got annoyed at me for not sitting by her in class one time. I'm considered a nerd due to my intelligence, so I guess she thought that I was some sort of desperate geek who wanted her love and that she was superior because of it. So, I think her ego took a hit when I told her that I didn't think we were friends. I love it when people that are jerks who think that "nice guys" like me are just wimps to be abused find out that even if a person doesn't show it, he or she can still have strength.
This thread really made me look back at my life. I was such a wimp ^_^