kindness
Kindness is a theatrical device that feigns empathy for others' pain while spotlighting one's own virtue. It distributes the bare minimum of sympathy to quietly inflate personal ego through a cunning marketing strategy. Occasionally a dash of genuine compassion seeps through, but only as incidental spice. Words of comfort melt away easily, evaporating without a trace. Ultimately, what remains is a self-serving emotion clad in the mask of goodwill.