sincerity

A sincere effort is a good effort, but substituting sincerity for substance is a poor way to help anyone else.

I suppose I have been as guilty as the next person as indulging in this pastime, but that doesn't make it any more attractive. Just because I think something is wonderful or horrendous doesn't imply that it is wonderful or horrendous.

Honesty is OK, I think: Such-and-such may be my sincere judgment or opinion. But implying or suggesting (implicitly or explicitly) that because it is my sincere judgment should be the basis for you to embrace a similar stance is pretty self-centered ... and more than that, not very helpful.

I guess I am thinking of this because of how irritated I can become with arguments or descriptions that rely on delighted or doleful volume, but are short on substantive presentation. Such presentations offer me little or no room in which to assess and reach my own conclusion: I am asked to agree as a social nicety, an assertion of kinship ... love-me-love-my-sincerity.

Anyway, I appreciate it and find it considerate when others bring substance to bear in serious matters ... substance and a little less 'sincere' volume.

Now let me see if I can practice what I preach.