being and mindfulness: mumbo jumbo?

Judith Warner's column Domestic Disturbances is one of my favorite opinion pieces. she posted something brilliant recently about feeling a sense of loss when her previously sarcastic bitter bitchy friend adopted a turn-the-other-cheek attitude.
ive felt it before with friends- people i called when the car broke down or when the check out girl took five minutes to figure out what the code was for asparagus, friends who agreed completely that some children shouldnt be seen OR heard. ever.
ive also heard the dissapointment of my worked up friends when theyve called expecting me to slap down some sassy supportive judgement and instead found me peace loving and shoulder shrugging, as i am want to become in moods of excessive good will. usually brought on by sex.
Judith says:
"I’ve also come to wonder if something desirably human is being lost in all this new and improved selfhood. That is to say: an edge. That little bit of raggedness that for some of us is really the heart of what makes us human."
im all for practicing patience-and i do need practice- but theres a point when people who dont lose their patience have lost their personalities.
briliant article here