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Editor's ViewpointMeditations Of A Minnesota Mossback |
A Trip to StuffMart … And The Key That Opens All Doors
I wish somebody would have introduced Bernie Madoff and Tom Petters to Madame Blueberry.
Those who are familiar with the VeggieTales animated children’s films will remember Madame Blueberry as the gal who tried to fight the “blue” feelings she had by making major shopping trips to StuffMart.
It didn’t work.
Eventually, Madame Blueberry learned that being thankful for what she had, rather than the accumulation of wealth and material goods, was the true route to happiness.
When immigrants first came to this country, they received assistance from those who already lived here—and our first Thanksgiving was a natural outcome of the Pilgrims’ gratitude.
Gratitude is not only a theological virtue, but a social one.
One of the most famous examples of gratitude given and received is Aesop’s old story of Androcles and the Lion. Androcles, an escaped slave, comes upon a wild lion suffering with a huge thorn in his paw. Fearing for his life, pity nonetheless motivates him to pull out the thorn. Later, Androcles is recaptured by his master and doomed to die in the circus arena by being thrown to wild animals. As circumstances have it, the lion to whom Androcles rendered aid is the one waiting for him in the arena, and he greets Androcles joyously. Both are eventually set free.
I wondered about the role gratitude has played in the stability of societies over the millennia.
After Googling “role of gratitude in history,” I was surprised at the results.
“Researchers are finding that gratitude is a key element of human well-being … Socially, gratitude builds connections … and lubricates human relationships,” read one article.
“… grateful people are optimistic and energetic and deal better with stress and illness. Gratitude, in short, can make you happier,” read another.
But gratitude does not only benefit personal relationships: it is also critical in business.
One article claimed that in relationship marketing, customer “gratitude … influences performance outcomes beyond the contributions of trust and commitment.”
Wow.
It seems, then, that “counting your blessings” is for everybody, not just for grandmothers.
The Roman philosopher Seneca would have agreed. “… among any and all of our great vices, none is so common as ingratitude,” he wrote (“On Benefits,” about 54 A.D.) in the Western world’s first great treatise on the subject.
Gratitude plays a prominent role in the world’s great religions: whether you are a practicing Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jew or Muslim, you are taught that gratitude is essential for a life well lived. In the book “The Psychology of Gratitude,” it states, “Gratitude has been called not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all others, the moral memory of mankind, the most passionate transformative force in the cosmos, the key that opens all doors, the quality that makes us and keeps us young” (Emmons & Mc- Cullough).
As parents, then, how do we mold our children into humane, socialized members of society?
Perhaps we should focus less on building a positive selfimage and more on teaching our children how to be grateful for what they have.
“When parents teach their children to say thank you, they are not only teaching good manners, but also fundamental ways of getting along with other people,” one researcher said.
Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once said, “When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude”—a statement that is even more profound when we consider that Wiesel suffered in Nazi concentration camps where he lost many of his family members.
In 1933, when many Americans were without work and didn’t know where the next meal was coming from, Franklin Roosevelt told the nation that Thanksgiving: “May we ask guidance in more surely learning the ancient truth that greed and selfishness and striving for undue riches can never bring lasting happiness or good to the individual or to his neighbors. May we be grateful … for the new spirit of dependence one on another” [emphasis added].
Yes, we Americans are certainly dependent on each other—more than ever. And whether that is a good thing or a bad thing may be fodder for another column.
In the meantime, as Easter and Passover are upon us, perhaps we should reflect on just how much gratitude matters when it comes to maintaining our family relationships and keeping the machinery of our society running smoothly.
Madame Blueberry would be proud.