Huh. I was hanging out with a friend last night and we were mutually complaining about people who are too nice all of the time. Her and I can be very dry and sarcastic people, which might come across as less than nice at times, so a person who is constantly cheery or nice and polite isn't somebody that we always want to be around.

I'm nice if I'm around people I'm not very comfortable with, friends when I feel like it, and whenever it's beneficial to be nice. I agree with you saying that it's most valuable when it's the most difficult. The times when you want to be a complete jerk to someone but end up being nice really shape their perception of you for the better, and help to iron out whatever issues are there. Being nice and kind is almost always valuable. My roommates and friends and I do some less than nice things on occasion, but in the end there is comfort in knowing that the kindness and niceness is always there when it's needed. tng just brought this up and it's a good point, I pay a lot of attention to how people treat their waiters/waitresses, bartenders, etc when I'm out with friends or on a date.

As for love, I have no idea what I think about that anymore and I've had a couple mini-internal-breakdowns trying to figure that out lately.