OPPOSITE OF GRATITUDE

My Moral Science school text book contained the case of a school boy travelling in a bus. When the conductor came to collect his ticket fare, the lad was horrified to note that his money was missing. As he burst into tears, the kind-hearted bus conductor consoled him, “Stop crying, son… I shall pay for your fare of four rupees.” However, on receiving the ticket, the boy cribbed, “what about my change? I lost a fifty rupee note!”

The dictionary of antonyms lists ingratitude as the opposite of gratitude. Ingratitude is explained as “forgetfulness of or poor return for kindness received”. However, the above story reveals a worse fault than forgetfulness. Surely, the opposite of gratitude is our own selfish attitude of expectations and demands on others around us. We are so appropriated by our own self-centredness that we fail to realise our self-absorbed thanklessness is making us insensitive to the value of gratitude.

When we let our demands dominate our relationships, the result is ruinous. So often, we give up on relationships because we are unhappy with the time or the attention we receive. Relationships centered on expectations suck our emotional strength and drain our personal resources. Sometimes even the strongest commitment can’t counterbalance the depletion that our friends or loved ones may feel if we treat them like this.

Let’s learn to be thankful for what we receive in terms of helping hands. Let’s never measure the love and kindness that we get. We must look at what we receive, and not be seized by how much we receive.

Selfish thanklessness strains and ruins relationships…
Let’s BE BETTER at giving self-centeredness the skip!

- Pravin K. Sabnis