Sentimentalism: good or bad?

Being sentimental is good.

Why?

Because it is built into us as humans; it is part of what we are; it is part of our DNA, if you will.

Webster's describes sentiment as: an idea, opinion, or attitude based more on feeling than on reason.  A susceptibility to emotion.

Its brother, sentimental, is marked, swayed, or affected by sentiment... nostalgic or romantic feelings.

Nothing wrong or detrimental about that, right?

I'm sentimental (shock!).

Take, for instance, our dog, Dolce... We lost her about three years ago, right around Christmas time.  She was a great Lab/Retriever mix; warm and friendly; she loved us, and we loved her!

When she passed, we were saddened, and we still miss her to this day.  When I think of her now, I am being sentimental, very much so.  Again, nothing wrong with that.

But when it comes to judgment, can being sentimental steer us in the wrong direction, causing us to cast reason aside in favor of sentimentalism, sister to sentiment?

On a more serious subject, say religion or faith (here I'm talking about the Catholic faith, but this applies to anyone that believes that there is a Heaven and hell and judgment after we die) for instance, how can or does sentimentalism figure in?

Can it sway our judgment when someone we love; a family member, a close friend, a neighbor, a former military brother, etc., passes away, and we immediately place him or her "in a better place"?

How many times have we heard that?  I've lost count...

Sure, I know it's not my job -- or your job -- to say where that soul ended up, but to presume that we know he or she is "in a better place," is a grave error; it is a sin against the virtue of hope.

On the other side of the coin, is despair, a grave error; also a sin against hope.

Don't we also hear that God would never condemn anyone to hell?  I agree, He wouldn't; we condemn ourselves (rejecting God's grace) by how we live our lives.  Or, we save ourselves (with God's grace) by how we live our lives; it works either way; we have the free will to choose.

Always pray for the ability to discern fact from fiction, and leave the subjective judging to God Almighty.

Gene DeLalla