Polybius wrote, \u201cwhen a man who has been helped when in danger by another\u00a0does not show gratitude to his preserver, but even goes\u00a0to the length of attempting to do him injury, it is clear that those who become aware of it will naturally be displeased and\u00a0offended by such conduct, sharing the resentment of their injured neighbor and imagining themselves in the same situation.\u00a0From all this there arises in everyone a notion of the meaning and theory of duty, which is the beginning and end\u00a0of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ingratitude is the source of the sense of justice, through an intriguing series of steps: Ingratitude is a failure to respond rightly to a kindness. The one who does not receive a grateful response is considered a victim of harm even before he is the subject of an injury, when literally nothing<\/em> has been done to him. Ingratitude is seen to flower out in actual injury.<\/p>\n More, the injury isn\u2019t limited to the person receiving the non-gratitude; it extends to those who \u201cbecome aware.\u201d Ingratitude arouses the resentment not only of the injured party but of the whole community, and it is from this resentment over ungrateful behavior that the community begins to form notions of duty and justice \u2013 justice clearly being defined here in terms of a grateful response to a benefit. Those who can imagine themselves being treated with ingratitude share the resentment of the injured party, and this fosters their sense of duty, their expectation of reciprocity, perhaps their insistence on revenge.<\/p>\n What a different sort of justice would arise from this: Give, without expecting to receive again.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Polybius wrote, \u201cwhen a man who has been helped when in danger by another\u00a0does not show gratitude to his preserver, but even goes\u00a0to the length of attempting to do him injury, it is clear that those who become aware of it will naturally be displeased and\u00a0offended by such conduct, sharing the resentment of their injured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gratitude"],"yoast_head":"\n