People will tell you anything and that is one of the hardest things that no one really gives you a heads up on. As you get older from being a child to being an adult and a viable member of society, you start to realize that there is an huge gap between what people say and what they do. And the gap is often large enough to swallow a person whole, figuratively speaking.
Let's pick a word like love, so many say it too easily and all too often, but saying I love you while packing a suitcase is very easy to do. Making a promise to be there and completely meaning it is also easy to do, but that person may not show up when you need them the most. Some people believe what they say at that moment, but there are many times when there is a discrepancy between what they said and what they did.
I can remember going to a funeral that I attended for a person that I had known in passing. Someone stood up and gave a beautiful eulogy about how much the speaker cared about the deceased and that moved many people to tears. Then I remembered that this person had not made even one visit to the person when she was sick for six months. I don't judge this person, I do think they deserve to be judged at least a little bit.
The weight that comes with actions is very different from the weight that comes with speaking words. Actions have a price value to them. There is an energy cost, a time cost and an inconvenience that comes with completing an action. When you do these things, when you complete them consistently, when you call back, when you show up, that all gives you with the truth related to that person's words.
So I now pay attention to how people act rather than to how they speak. I now pay attention to what people do without being asked rather than to what people say. This is how people truly live their lives.