On Gratitude And Virtue

A sense of gratitude and indebtedness to others is an important wellspring of a generous and virtuous life. All people can recognize that they are indebted to their parents, who gave them birth and raised them at considerable sacrifice. But our indebtedness extends much further than that. Fundamentally, we are indebted to God our Creator and the powers of nature that nourish and through many hands—that cultivate, harvest, clean, package, transport, sell, and prepare it—we should recognize that we rely on the labors of many people in order to survive. A sense of gratitude to others is thus acknowledging our interdependent existence; it is an antidote to the illusion of egoism.

Such gratitude is recalled and expressed in the prayer of grace or thanks offered before meals.  Another dimension of gratitude is directed towards those who are responsible for our education and enlightenment in the way of truth and salvation. Gratitude towards one’s teachers, and especially towards the sages and founders of religions who offered their lives to find the truth, is a proper attitude of faith.

Most of all, we should be grateful to God, who quietly has been guiding and nurturing each person toward salvation, and without whose grace the world would be plunged in darkness.