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For me, sentimentality is simply a longing for something or someone that is no longer with us, while at the same time remembering it ( or them ) fondly. I never look at it as a perorative. The feelings may be somewhat sad or melancholy, but never negative. And I believe the rest of the world sees us in a negative light because we are so wasteful! For example, the amount of food we waste and discard daily could feed a third world country for a year! No one seems to ever consider that . . . 
posted by
JimmyA
on September 27, 2013 at 5:37 AM
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I am highly empathic
posted by
Annicita
on September 26, 2013 at 5:46 PM
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Too much sentimentality is sort of dangerous I am thinking...a quick decision not well thought out that can lead to disaster...I find Americans very generous rather than sentiment. Generous with time and love and all the important things in life.
posted by
Kabu
on September 26, 2013 at 3:41 PM
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Re: CCT,
I think tenderness is something quite different, and more real than sentimentality which seems to me to be largely in the view of the one experiencing it. Tenderness is more particular, specific to a person regarded as special and loved. Sentimentality can be a tendency to attribute sweetness or niceness to something or someone they like the look of, but don't really know.
I think sentimentality can lead to some great errors in judgment, and poor choices, which is how some people end up living under bridges and in boxes.
I get sentimental about odd things. Like squirrels... and candies with faces on them. Sometimes without faces.
posted by
Ciel
on September 26, 2013 at 1:56 PM
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I don't know Ciel, perhaps as one grows older one grows more sentimental.
As you suggest it depends on one's environment. I can't see anyone waking up under a bridge being very sentimental or one who sleeps in an old cardboard box. I think it is probably a luxury that a normal person in a supposedly sophisticated society can afford .
Are you sentimental? I am beginning to wonder what it really means, if the feeling is tenderness, that's nice.
posted by
C_C_T
on September 26, 2013 at 12:19 PM
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I am one of those who thrive on "sentimental journeys". Kind of on one today. This is the birthday of my beloved KC sister. She is a doll and we have many wonderful memories together.
posted by
TAPS.
on September 26, 2013 at 10:51 AM
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Ciel
An excellent thumbnail sketch of a very complex issue, that would deserve a far more extensive response than I am able to give it now...So here's my very brief answer to your question: by training (and quite possibly by natural inclination) I approach the world and it's events in a fairly non-sentimental way - rose-coloured glasses are definitely not part of my attire, LOL. Having said that, I have been known to wax sentimental over specific people and even 'things'...
posted by
Nautikos
on September 26, 2013 at 10:15 AM
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I find that the positive and negative aspects of sentimentality tend to vary. For example, my father felt very sentimental to one of his businesses after he became the landlord there and was often thinking of ways to get back in. The story is very long and has been written about plenty of times in my blogs. Anyway, I do not feel that sentimentality was good because to have gone back in there would not have been the right move.
When it comes to objects, I have no problems with being sentimental (i.e. a grandmother's watch, etc.). One does not want to get to a point, though, where they end up on Hoarders.
posted by
FormerStudentIntern
on September 26, 2013 at 9:27 AM
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