The reason it’s vague on what the bad thing is that it’s much easier for a reader to sympathize with doing a bad thing than a specific bad thing — you head off both the trolls and the people who shout “that’s not bad!” This is not a tough concept.

I totally understand that. But I think “I did all this for you, so now it’s MY turn” is an understandable way to think about it, but it’s also really messed up at the core. You shouldn’t want your friends to wish you happiness because you wished them happiness. That’s shouldn’t be how this works. You should want them…