S
ScornedStoic
NEET
- Nov 26, 2020
- 82
So sick of hearing this.
Don't get me wrong, I do try to practice gratitude for the few things I've had, and I recognize there are people in third world countries or who've had just utterly abysmal horrific physical deformities from birth, etc. Of course I practice gratitude that I didn't end up like that and sometimes that even makes me feel a little better.
But that's it. That's the height to which "gratitude" pulls me. I don't know if the people saying this have realized, but the argument they're levying works in the exact opposite direction too. If recognizing how many people have it that much worse than you should make you feel better, than recognizing how many people have it that much better tha you would obviously be equally as depressive in the opposite direction. And there are a lot more people in my country that have it visibly orders of magnitude easier and better than me. Of course that's going to be a more immediate source of concern.
It's not even just that they have it better than me, and trust me, in the West, 99.9% of people have it leagues better than me; but it's the kind of people I notice that do. Hardly any of them have ever had to work as hard as I have, nor do they appreciate what they have. They complain as much or most often, more than I do, about things absolutely mundane and pedestrian to me at this point in my life.
How could I not be resentful?
Don't get me wrong, I do try to practice gratitude for the few things I've had, and I recognize there are people in third world countries or who've had just utterly abysmal horrific physical deformities from birth, etc. Of course I practice gratitude that I didn't end up like that and sometimes that even makes me feel a little better.
But that's it. That's the height to which "gratitude" pulls me. I don't know if the people saying this have realized, but the argument they're levying works in the exact opposite direction too. If recognizing how many people have it that much worse than you should make you feel better, than recognizing how many people have it that much better tha you would obviously be equally as depressive in the opposite direction. And there are a lot more people in my country that have it visibly orders of magnitude easier and better than me. Of course that's going to be a more immediate source of concern.
It's not even just that they have it better than me, and trust me, in the West, 99.9% of people have it leagues better than me; but it's the kind of people I notice that do. Hardly any of them have ever had to work as hard as I have, nor do they appreciate what they have. They complain as much or most often, more than I do, about things absolutely mundane and pedestrian to me at this point in my life.
How could I not be resentful?