An accurate definition of ingratitude, though not the one usually found in dictionaries might be worded like this:
“Ingratitude is the attitude of the person who receives every good and perfect gift without so much as an appreciative nod in the direction of the donor, be he human or divine.”
A neighbor sympathized one day with a little, wrinkled old lady because she had only two teeth left. But the smiling old soul answered, “One’s lower, and the other’s upper, but thank God they meet!”
Andrew Carnegie, a multi-millionaire, left $1 million to one of the relatives, who in turn cursed Carnegie thoroughly
because he had left $365 million to public charities and cut him off with just one measly million.Samuel Leibowitz, criminal lawyer and judge, saved seventy-eight men from the electric chair. Not one ever bothered to thank him.
There is no creature so ungrateful as a human being. Even animals will seldom bite the hand that gives him bread. Not so with man.
Many years ago, as the story is told, a devout king was disturbed by the ingratitude of his royal court. He prepared a large banquet for them. When the king and his royal guests were seated, by prearrangement,
a beggar shuffled into the hall, sat down at the king’s table, and gorged himself with food. Without saying a word, he then left the room.The guests were furious and asked permission to seize the tramp and tear him limb from limb for his ingratitude.
The king replied, “That beggar has done only once to an earthly king what each of you does three times each day to God. You sit at the table and eat till you’re satisfied, then you walk away without recognizing God, or expressing even one word of thanks to Him.”
What's closer to reality is this common scenario: Have you experienced helping someone and when the person you helped has succeeded with that endeaver, that person claims how hard he has worked on it and will later have the audacity to relay to you his success story totally forgetting where the knowledge came from? Sounds familiar?
Copyright © 2011 Athena Goodlight
