This I thought was well thought out. So much so that I also added a rather lengthy comment below the post. I am quite sure it is riddled with grammatical errors so I include a copy of it here which I may correct in due course:
Bravo! I have long felt unsettled by the term to which you refer. I have always acted with kindness toward others; and when others are kind to me, this does indeed lift my spirits, so to speak and makes it a bit more likely that I will be that much more kind to any I should encounter. However I have always rewarded, in any way in which I am able, acts of kindness shown to me.
We often forget that a real life and fiction are not the same. We write a certain passage in as a philosophical passage in a book–as did Miss Rand–to illustrate a philosophical point. It is not, I think so much a blueprint for action but rather a thing to keep in mind in real life.
For example, when recently our car was down with unexpected and catastrophic repairs, which I found would take some time, owing to the unavailability of parts and the type of work needed, to repair, our friend JR whose work and sleep schedule is quite opposite mine most of the time, offered me his car until the work was done, provided he was not at work himself, and was in essence done with his car for the day. He did not ask for a dime or a dollar–this was real life, after all, not a lesson in a book. HOWEVER, the lesson of Miss Rand’s book, and perhaps one that was reinforced by good parenting and perhaps even by the Andy Griffith show : ) caused me, without even thinking about it, to wash my friend’s car and leave the tank full. I did this whether there were ten gallons or a half gallon missing, and regardless of how much or how little I drove.
Yes such an act is encouraging. But even such an unsolicited payback as I describe is all the more encouraging to those who have done someone a good turn. I would have done this even if my friend had insisted It was not necessary. Just as are the two characters in Miss Rand’s book, both of us are financially stable enough that my act of recompense was neither necessary nor burdening to either of us, still the goodwill was priceless! And, what better way to show my appreciation than to save him a trip to the car-wash and the gas station for a few weeks.
David Emeron: Sonnets 