Some people mistake kindness as weakness.

I think it takes people aback and off-guard...especially when they were expecting the opposite. We get used to having to struggle through situations, so kindness breaks a habitual thought process and startles us. (At least that is how it works for me.)

Because people very rarely mean it. Nothing's worse than being tricked, it's not even so much knowing that they don't like you, it's knowing that thy tried to trick you into thinking they did.

It's only difficult to deal with if one has attempted to withdraw from others in some way. When we pull back into our shells, there's a corresponding self-concept which gets constructed that has to see others as threatening. It has to do this in order to justify the withdrawal, i.e. "people are bad, so I must withdraw and protect myself". Everytime someone is cruel, uncaring, or cold, this self-concept gets to be RIGHT, and it uses that as evidence for the need to withdraw further. Anybody who behaves kindly undermines the coherence of this identity: the kindness undermines the principle "people are cruel and uncaring", and that threatens the legitimacy of the whole withdrawal strategy and it's corresponding identity. The resolution is (as always!) awareness: just SEEING the identity and it's support system for what they are -- a psychological construct that is a sort of automated, robotic reaction to some painful episode(s). Such mechanisms are never true self, because true self isn't threatened by others. Seeing the mechanism function brings us back to here-and-now, where we can allow the whole reaction to be experienced until it's energy is expended.

It's more a subjective response we have to kindness I would tend to believe, meaning that we deal with kindness as we do in response to most things that lay with-in those of our ego driven self-acceptances. I say most things, because it isn't one lumped into that kindness category of auto responses where one says How are you today, you say fine, and you? As well as Oh, nice to meet you, so and so has mentioned so much about you! Both of course are connotations to where our kindness is expected, as well as not to stray with-in societal circles. No, our acceptance to kindness is more of a response unto self worthiness, and how we arrived to the place we reside with-in it. I myself was physically abused as a young child with belts, kicks, slaps across the head, withheld meals, burned by lighters, etc. Later, as I grew older, the need for control evolved into my being subjected to sometimes hours of a non-stop barrage of words I would have gladly traded the same hours for with the belt. A controlled scenario where one wasn’t allowed to speak back, for fear of reprisals, and came in dictates of words and sentences that brought one to wither into a shell, and to sob profusely for the duration Words like worthless, moron, idiot, inconsiderate, liar, stupid ass were descriptive unto the future predictions of never gonna be anything but a bum, or on the street begging cause you surly cant do a damn thing right. So, anyhoo, as an adult, it took me about 15 years to finally be able to reckon with the fact that I was a good man, and that I was worth as much as others, and life was truly a wonderful experience. Getting there was rough at times, as I mostly used humor to get by, and if someone was being kind to me, my response usually reflected something negative back, though subtle. Hey nice tie, yeah, but it's got a stain on it. Wow, great haircut, yeah, but they cut it too short around my dumbo ears. My responses came in negatives, as one's self worth measure, and being gracious while coming up out of my ordeals have always been the hardest to place comfort with-in, due to the places I had been conditioned to be, by another's inability to be kind in any way. Maybe we all are similar, in that our responses to others kindness are just as subjective, like the cynical thinking that kind people want something, or spoiled people accept kindness as something expected, or the lonely sometimes confusing kindness for friendship or even love. Whatever the response is, we all need have it often, administer it far more than we recieve it, and teach it from the time a child is born. I think especially in today’s society we keed to be kin more than ever before, as we become more compartmentalized, and seem to be more and more indifferent to those around us. Great question, and Peace to you all!

Its hard to deal with because it instills guilt in you. You feel guity for not treating the person equally.

it can be concidered a weakness. it can make you look nieve. a doormate. although i concider my self kind, but i guess i'm these other things to. also i've met people that are so kind, it would make a kind person throw up. also, i kind of dig being so kind because in appropriate situations you can "kill them with kindness" i know that's so bumper sticker but it works for me a lot.

All the above and below is wrong. If someone is being kind to you, they are trying to share something with you, an inner peace far beyond comprehension, the law of intention from one persons random act of kindness or sensless act of beauty is a transferance of positive energy's. The reasoning behind of your "hard to deal with it" perception is your negative energy responding to it. Think of the human body as an antenna, and you have this energy flowing through and around you, this energy is negatively charged or out of alignment. When someone passes you on the street that does not align with your energy levels strange things happen, you steer away, or try to avoid or adjust your walk, at times it is possible to even experience deja vu at these moments as you may have had a connection with the other persons energy force prior. The force that keeps you hostile against such acts is within you, not the other person. You may laugh if you wish, or refuse to believe, because that is your perception of source energy, and the universe will mold itself to suit your perceptions because that is how you desire to percieve them. - Thank you for your kind comment, nastame.

Great answer - I couldn't agree more! Reiki engergy healing is similiar.

Sometimes kindness is mistaken for pity with is loathed by most normal people when it is shown toward them.