Out of nowhere

So I received a text this week from my xN. "Hey u stranger, how r u?" I hate how they catch u off guard at a time when you've softened a bit to the world again.

Yes, I responded Ug! "Good...u?" And then him, "Ok. Just busy at work."

My mind was spinning afterwards, thinking..WTF.

Rationally I know that something wasn't 'just right' with his new victim, even if only for that moment,and he had to reach out to someone he thought he may get a kind word from. Or possibly he needed help with something and wanted to check in to see if possibly i was still in his back pocket..to pull out and use in case of an emergency.

They say that 'kindness isn't weakness', I'd like to believe that. If all I have to give, to him, is a kind word, I think that's ok. I don't feel that I've failed in responding to him, for that is MY humanity. But it's to leave it at that..that's where I go from here. To not respond would make me like him...a fate worse than death!