Loved the point: help others selflessly. Sounds great! Thought the essay was quite well-written. Lamented the fact that I hadn't gotten to meet Chuck. Sounds like a great guy and felt inspired to be more like him.

Then, not being a regular reader, wandered over to the About page and read:

"In many of my articles, I often refer to specific people as a means of telling the story… making a point. These people do not exist – I am not writing about you – they are fabrications that are specifically constructed to make a point."

Oh. Characters in the story may or may not have worked on software at Symantec. Chuck may not have existed at all. It may all have been a fabrication. There may have been no real motivational example event of human-helping-other-human.

The writer simply wanted to sell the idea of Being Nice and constructed a fable to sell it. OK. The idea is still good, but the fabrication leaves the reader feeling more manipulated/betrayed than inspired. May have been better to abbreviate the essay to "New Year's Resolution: Be nice. The End."