On Varieties of Gratitude

Cicero said that “gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all the others.” But whether or not it be the greatest, gratitude is highly becoming to all. Perhaps not everyone who voices gratitude is actually grateful. Likewise, perhaps not everyone who voices gratitude is actually grateful. Likewise, perhaps not everyone who fails to speak his gratitude is actually ungrateful. But to be valid, it would surely seem that gratitude should find some form of expression, by work or act or attitude. Of course, there are many degrees and varieties of gratitude. For example, it was once stated, and has often since been quoted, that “gratitude is a lively sense of favors to come.” But that gratitude which is prompted chiefly by the anticipation of further favors, is, in a sense, not gratitude at all, but merely a polite suggestion to give again. Most of us are grateful for a favor that someone does for us the first time. But if a favor we have frequently received fails to be repeated, it may become a cause of disgruntled complaint. Indeed, there are those who become so accustomed to favors that they demand as their irrevocable right that for which they were once sincerely grateful—all of which suggests the wisdom of proceeding with discretion, lest that which was favor to begin with comes to be looked upon as a vested right. The gratitude of a friend for whom some service has been done is among the richest of payments. But an ungrateful friend is a sore disillusionment. Likewise there is no effort to difficult, no sacrifice too great for a parent to make for a child—if the child is grateful. But an ungrateful child is a sorrow and a disappointment. And it would be a grave oversight if we did not show something of our gratitude to the Father of us all in whose image we were created, for, despite much confusion in the world, despite anxiety and apprehension, despite all the circumstances that sometimes make life difficult and discouraging, we have more cause for gratitude than anyone can voice, more than all men in all their days could be duly grateful for. And where the suggestion fits, it may be well for some of us to show our gratitude for the privilege of life by getting down to work and down to sane, reasonable, and earnest living. “And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving,…the fullness of the earth is yours,…And in nothing doth man offend God…save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.” Great indeed among the virtues is gratitude.