…debt of gratitude

Pretty much everyone with any economic sense knows that debt is a bad thing. Any debt. All debt. Except one, I’d say.  Remember the old expression, “I have a debt of gratitude” that was used “to show appreciation or thanks that someone should give another person,” according to the dictionary? I can’t remember the last time I heard someone say that. Whether the expression has worn out or the humility to have gratitude for what others (and life) offer has been forgotten is a question that I won’t ramble on about here.

It requires humility and the ability to pay attention to notice all the wonderful things that others do for us. Some things are small, like a smile or kind word at the perfect time; some are exceptional in their effect; some are spontaneous while others are long-lasting; some are delivered by loved ones or family, and some by strangers encountered and never seen again. If we are willing to accept the commodities of happiness, joy, humor, empathy, sympathy, thoughtfulness, politeness, compassion, service, assistance and so on, we will forever be in debt to others.

Not everyone who accepts, or benefits from, such things feels a sense of gratitude. Gratitude can’t exist when one has a sense of entitlement, narcissism or expectations of others. While other debts become burdensome, encumbering much of the potential of life and living, a debt of gratitude lightens, empowers and refreshes us.

See things for which you are appreciative; have the humility to have gratitude for people, circumstances and things. Carry a debt of gratitude:  A debt, the only debt, we should always carry.