Greeting Card Writers Lack Empathy, Imagination

Sad and lonely Hallmark writers...

Aspiring greeting card writers be warned. It's not necessarily the life of wild women, fast cars and celebrity lifestyle you might have imagined. Oh no. Most likely it could lead to a sad and lonely existence with neither friends nor family. And god help you if you're an Atheist greeting card writer. The chances of happiness? Slim to none.
Needless to say, the dangers of seeking solace in hard drugs and alcohol become all too apparent. This is a high risk occupation and not one to be taken lightly. When the deadline approaches for that Anniversary verse and the clock ticks down can you fake it? Well? Have you got what it takes?

Christian mentalist Tim Challies appears to suggest that greeting card writers lack empathy, creativity and imagination in his blog Challies.com
Sadly, he goes on to state that they "...return alone to an empty home and a life lived alone".

"Have you ever stopped to consider what it must be like to work for Hallmark or another of the companies that create greeting cards? Imagine spending your whole day attempting to come up with wonderful statements of deep feeling—love, remorse, sympathy—yet without feeling any of the associated emotions. Imagine having to write words that express sympathy, yet not feeling any sympathy yourself. Or imagine having to write words that can express the deep, passionate love a man has for his wife as they celebrate fifty years of marriage, but without having ever experienced that sort of love yourself. It must be very odd to spend the whole day writing words of love and passion from a husband to a wife but then return alone to an empty home and a life lived alone."

I wonder why Tim chose greeting card writers (and Hallmark writers especially) as opposed to scriptwriters, authors, poets, songwriters or indeed any endeavour which benefits from creativity, imagination, free-thinking and perhaps most importantly, empathy? I wonder if Tim when he reads a book or watches a film constantly asks himself "Yes, but has the author personally experienced all these things?" Does Tim question the authenticity, let alone accuracy or truth, of all he experiences? Critical and historical review of, say, the Bible, reveals much of it to be wildly inaccurate, mis-translated and apocryphal. Yet here, Tim, as a rational human being, is more than able to suspend his disbelief as regards this Murder Mystery! How strange...

Lay off the creative free-thinkers Tim and look elsewhere for your analogies.

Source: Challies.com