Election years tend to push to the surface a common belief that binds together most, if not all, Americans: We are all entitled to things. So many things.
The list of demands presented by and to politicians goes on and on. I certainly am not innocent of wanting my share, and have often cataloged many things I am owed or would like to be owed as a proud American citizen, graduate of multiple college degree programs, scion of the Upper Middle Class, et cetera.
This is not a happy thought process. Inevitably I feel like I am not getting something I deserve. The antidote I, and many others before me, discovered? Gratitude.
Several moral philosophers position pride as the mother of all deadly sins that, by definition, cause suffering. Pride spawns a sense of entitlement. It hungers for external recognition and reward. A sense of entitlement sows misery because, as Morrissey once sang, “the gulf between all the things I need, and the things I receive, is an ancient ocean wide, wild, lost, uncrossed.” The core question a sense of entitlement poses is how much one is owed. There is an easy answer. I am owed nothing. I am given much.
The world and the people in it gave me and continue to give me a miraculous life. I have received far more than my share. When I think these thoughts, and center on all the wonderful people and experiences that have come my way through grace, I am serene.
Several moral philosophers pose humility as the central virtue. If one is humbled by the gifts they receive, disappointment becomes impossible. We possess little direct control, short of violent sins, over what the world gives us. This is why the ocean Morrissey sings of remains uncrossed, and quite possibly drowns the soul. We do however possess great power over what we give of ourselves to the world.
Humility begets gratitude which begets giving in return which begets feeling good, calm and fulfilled. The gulf between humility and doing good remains one that, thankfully, can be easily crossed. Get in your canoe and paddle.
