Gratitude Adjustment



I suddenly realized why everything coming out of the entertainment industry has to do with zombies. Who knew that something like this in the culture would be biographical? Everywhere I go, there appears to be a pandemic of the same disease. It is called ingratitude.

I can't tell you how many times, today alone, that I've given people the right of way in traffic, in stores, smiled, and said "Hello!" to these unresponsive, deadbeat, self-entitled losers who won't acknowledge the good things when they're bestowed upon them. They'll just go on about their business either oblivious to what others have done for them on their behalf, or are so enamored with their own self-importance that they actually believe these niceties were owed to them.

We live in a society marred and scarred by entitlement. Louis C.K. illustrates this in his own comedic fashion, and while I don't particularly condone his points about the collapse of an economic infrastructure, the finer points of his rant are not wasted here:

One of the more sinister elements at play here is the ambivalence and the callousness that happens in the heart of an otherwise giving, cheerful person can be cultivated because they believe their good deeds are unnoticed and unappreciated. So, what's the point?

The purity of a giver's motives are in question in these moments. Are we doing what is right to attain praise and accolades from men, or are we doing them because they are the right thing to do?

My faith and belief systems are of value to me when it comes to these scenarios. Not saying anyone reading this has to profess my beliefs. Do with yours what you will. I'm merely speaking from what I deem valuable and effective in my own life.

If all there is to live for in this world is the praise and adoration of your fellow man, you will be sadly disappointed at the results. I choose to believe that there is something bigger than the highly overrated people I don't care to emulate. It is for this purpose that I decide the most effective way to combat the things in this life I don't like is to choose not to be that way myself, to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do, and not because the recipient recognizes it and gives me validation. If I depend upon them to bestow said validation, by default I rely on them to take it away as well. They don't deserve that kind of power.

So, to all you soldiers out there fighting the good fight, stay strong, stay resilient, and please continue to be good. God knows the world could use you.

1 comment