Ah, Eugene. I loved going to school there, as it was so organic and green, with a population high in altruists and granola eating next-gen hippies. But even in that idyllic little Eden at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, there are suspicious, mean people who think you’re up to no good if you offer to do something nice for them. Like old ladies, mall security types, and cops:

EUGENE, Ore. — All they wanted to do was change the world, one random act of kindness at a time. Instead, they were met with furrowed brows, questioned by Eugene police and ousted by Valley River Center security officers.

“People can’t accept the fact that there are other people who just want to be nice,” says Sheldon High School senior Kelsey Hertel, who founded the school’s new Random Acts of Kindness Club. “People don’t trust each other. They think everyone’s out to get them.”

Via Local News | Eugene, Ore., high-school students’ good intentions misunderstood | Seattle Times Newspaper