July 4 is Independence Day. Thanksgiving is Dependence Day, a time to remember how dependent we are on God and on each other. And our appreciation of this dependence is gratitude.
After the jump, a post by one of my ex-students quoting one of my ex-colleagues.
From Gracy Olstead, Why Thanksgiving Is More Important Than Ever This Year, The Federalist:
In his book “The Politics of Gratitude,” Mark Mitchell notes that true gratitude “means more than good manners,” or “the pleasure associated with possessing plenty of nice things.” It’s more than “mere relief that we have managed to escape, or at least survive, the latest crisis.” Rather, he writes, “gratitude is a disposition toward the world that reminds us that we are not alone”:
We are not solitary creatures owing nothing to anyone. Rather, gratitude points to our dependence. It points to our contingency. When our thoughts are characterized by gratitude, they are outward looking. Gratitude breaks us out of the cocoon of self-satisfaction and self-concern that is a constant temptation and impels us to think about the ways our lives are related to others. Gratitude is quintessentially relational.
