Worzel's World: Something sincerely faithful

 

I have asserted that the schooling and the education (for these two are separate and distinct) that were enjoyed or endured by me and my peers was superior to anything provided since.

It is easy to attribute this assertion to a sense of superiority and the natu-ral bias to nostalgically believe that ‘things were better in my day’. However, with the announcement via the Programme for International Student Assessments (PISA) we find that Kiwi kids have dramatically declined in their international academic ranking. I can now assert with some author-ity that yes, things were in fact better in my day. Yet things were still far from perfect even then, and there are many instances since where life has proven to me that my teachers lied.

I was taught that there were two proper ways to append a letter, either ‘yours sincerely’ or ‘yours faithfully’. We were told that one was more applicable to business communication and the other to personal. With the passage of time, and by my own increasing inability to define what is my business and what is not and whether I should take any of it personally, I can no longer remember which was which and what was what. To complicate matters, in these days of ‘anything goes’ I only reserve such formalities for hard copy. My emails may be signed off with Thanks, Best wishes, Kind regards, Cheers, God Bless and on occasions nothing at all or simply Worz.

I have not yet been completely seduced by liberal literary trends though and have yet to stoop to acronyms like LOL, and I stubbornly refuse to us emojis. But we live in uncertain times and who knows what the future may hold. Of the two formal appendices though I greatly prefer one to the other.

Sincerity is nice enough and I am happy to respect anyone’s sincerity. However, I have known many very ‘sin-cere’ people who were sincerely mixed up. No matter though how messed up someone may be, it is always reassuring to find that they wish to remain ‘faithful’ to whatever agreement, either implied or stated, we have between us. Sincerity denotes earnestness whereas faith denotes both trust and obedience. Usually to a higher ideal.

I would also assert one of the major problems we face in society today is the inability to appreciate the difference between sincerity and faithfulness. I do not doubt that many politicians are sincere about their pre-election promises, but I am unable to recall a single example of when any have been faithful to them. Salesmen may be sincere in the enthusiasm they show for a new product yet this does not mean that it will fulfil expectations or even function adequately. I have no doubt that every couple makes their vows sincerely when marrying, but the cold, hard and emotion-less statistics show not only sincerely but quite definitely that less than 50 per cent will be faithful to them.

Even the most cur-sory view of the world will show a marked im-balance between these attributes. There are truckloads of sincerity everywhere you look, but faithfulness is as rare as a helpful public servant.

When we put faith in the unfaithful the outcome is never going to be good. Misplaced faith is always a harbinger of tragedy. It is a strange truth that everyone, even the faithless, would rather deal with honest people faithful to their word. Yet even those with the very best of intentions are still liable to disappoint those who place more faith in them than is reasonable. If you put your faith in doctors, scientists, politicians, journalists, me or you – indeed in any person or any creature except perhaps an extremely loyal and intelligent dog – you will be destined for disappointment. Sooner or later (and most prob-ably sooner) you will be let down. Even worse can be expected by those who put their faith in hard work, wealth, status, the brotherhood of man or any other philosophy.Faith is precious, it is deemed to be a gift of God to people through His grace. Like anything precious we should be careful where we put it, for it can, like any gift, be lost or broken. I remain, yours faithfully, Worzel.

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