glumshoe:

bettsplendens:

glumshoe:

glumshoe:

If I got to choose between being intelligent or being kind, I think I would chose intelligence, if only because I honestly don’t think I’m fucking smart enough to be correctly kind.

Intelligence is a trait that allows kindness to be executed. You can choose to be kind to a houseplant by giving it water, but if that houseplant happens to be a cactus, you’re harming it more by overwatering it out of kindness than you would be if you maliciously ignored it for another two weeks.

I get what you’re saying, but I feel like kindness is a matter of intent. If someone’s genuine attempt to help is harmful, that’s still kindness, it’s just badly executed kindness. Likewise, if an attempt at malice doesn’t hurt anything, that’s still malicice. It’s just inept malice.

I guess I’m more interested in the end results than my own internal motivations. If I met a Cool Wizard at a bar and he offered me a drink from either the Phial of Kindness or the Flask of Intelligence, I’d chose the latter. Kindness is a virtue, certainly, but what good does it do if it’s misapplied? 

If a Phial of Kindness increased my desire to be good but did not improve my ability to discern between ‘things that are helpful’ and ‘things that are not’, I think its chief effect would be to make me miserable at my own ineptitude. If a Flask of Intelligence left my desire to do good at its base level but improved my discretion, it would allow avoidance of harm and more effectively applied compassion. 

See, that makes sense! Intelligence can amplify one’s ability to carry out things based on their existing kindness. Some combination of those traits will do a lot more good than an extreme of just one trait.