“Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs” — Josef Stalin
There is a logical consistency to the behavior of Stalin, Mao, Hitler, and all wannabe tyrants in that they realize that humane tendencies like compassion, humility, and empathy don’t go well with the pursuit of raw, absolute power. The megalomania implicit in this Stalin quote is quite striking. Nothing flows but from the holder(s) of power. To receive is to be at the mercy of the powerful, a situation one should resent because power is all that matters. Being grateful for one’s health, beautiful weather, and birdsong would mean putting oneself in the position of receiving something from a more powerful being which is presumably intolerable.
The Satan depicted by Milton issues his non serviam out of pride but it also a concurrent rejection of the goodness of creation and the gift of his own existence in his futile struggle for ultimate power, a pursuit that is incompatible with affirmation.
Our friends on the left seem increasingly resistant to gratitude. As a kid, I was constantly reminded that I should be grateful to have been born in the greatest country on earth. I was reminded to be grateful for each meal, to be grateful for my family and friends at bedtime. In contrast, to complain, to accuse, to denigrate seems to be characteristic of the woke as if every aspect of one’s own existence should be found offensive in some way. The woke seem to have in mind some inchoate political solution that is just out of reach and the only real injustice is that the power to realize that state of being is not already in hand and the status quo is just an insult.
I found gratitude to be kinda corny when I was a teen. The older I get, the more I realize the power of gratitude and the perverse effects of its absence. I will not go so far as to be grateful for Stalin but this one instance of insight feels pretty valuable and it pleases me that that this bit of insight would greatly annoy him and others like him.
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