Season's Greetings

I hate Hallmark cards. They seem so... fake. Phonies! Every one of 'em. They seem so impersonal. Those words are not your own. How can you give me this card with these words that are not yours? I think that I shouldn't hate them. We cannot all put our thoughts and feelings into words, but that doesn't mean that they are not there. That they are not real. And yet, I can't stand to read someone else's words telling me how much you care. Maybe you carefully flipped through cards looking for the one with exactly the right sentiment. But maybe you picked the first one that was applicable. It's all the same to me. If you had something to say, why not just say it, awkward phrasing and all?
Mother gave me a Hallmark card. My first instinct when reading a card is to read only that which was written by hand and to skip anything that wasn't. They made me read it. The sentiment was nice though I have since forgotten it. She gave Father a Hallmark card too. He appreciated his more than I mine. I think he got a little chocked up reading it. I didn't understand why. I feel like Hallmark cards are full of sweet sentiments that really don't mean anything, not when you buy them. You can talk about what a kind and caring and gentle person I am, but I won't believe you. I will believe that you wanted to say something nice to me and could only think of banalities like what a nice person I am. It's the kind of thing children write about one another when they have to. Tell me to Have A Great Summer!!! why don't you.
Thinking about it, I don't have things to say about people. I don't have reasons for liking or caring about people. I just do. I have reasons for admiring people. I have reasons for disliking people. But I couldn't really tell you why some people are my friends and others mere acquaintances. There are reasons, sure, but I think most them amount to being in the right place at the right time and having sufficiently compatible personalities, not because of how great some person or another is. I guess I don't really have anything better to say to people than Hey, I like you and I like spending time with you. But at least it's genuine, or something.