- Of nice guys and turtles -

A discussion as old as time itself was delved into yet again yesterday, with no new lease of life injected into it.

"Do nice guys really finish last?" is the sort of passe, hackneyed question that has been bandied about almost rhetorically for ages, and will continue being thrown back and forth for ages to come between guys and girls, the latter of whom shouldn't even be asking the question, their minds having already been made up even before "do". It's the kind of question that doesn't quite require an answer, not unlike "What's that you're watching on your computer?", "Have you thrown out the garbage?" and "Do I look fat in this?".

Almost mechanically, the set answer left my lips, or rather my fingers. "Of course."
But upon mulling on the issue further, a groundbreaking new conclusion came to light: Nice guys don't finish last after all. No, the thing is, nice guys don't finish. Period.

Then again, harmless banter as it may be, the question does strike me as a little offensive. It's not a competition, not a race to the finish, there is no time limit, there are no trophies, no prizes. The extended "finishing" metaphor is a tad out of place, I reckon.