It’s a safe guess, though, that most of the people targeted by gratitude
exhortations actually have something to be grateful for, such as Janice
Kaplan, the author of the memoir “The Gratitude Diaries,” who spent a
year appreciating her high-earning husband and successful grown
children. And it is here that the pro-social promise of gratitude begins
to dim. True, saying “thank you” is widely encouraged, but much of the
gratitude advice involves no communication or interaction of any kind.
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The real challenge of gratitude lies in figuring out how to express our debt to them, whether through generous tips or, say, by supporting their demands for decent pay and better working conditions. But now we’re not talking about gratitude, we’re talking about a far more muscular impulse — and this is, to use the old-fashioned term, “solidarity” — which may involve getting up off the yoga mat.
-The Selfish Side of Gratitude
[---]
The real challenge of gratitude lies in figuring out how to express our debt to them, whether through generous tips or, say, by supporting their demands for decent pay and better working conditions. But now we’re not talking about gratitude, we’re talking about a far more muscular impulse — and this is, to use the old-fashioned term, “solidarity” — which may involve getting up off the yoga mat.
-The Selfish Side of Gratitude
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