Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
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<strong>the</strong> spirit <strong>of</strong> connection S 149<br />
death: “nasty, brutish, and short.” Shakespeare and Hobbes are<br />
Englishmen both, and so it is possible that gloomy wea<strong>the</strong>r had<br />
something <strong>to</strong> do with <strong>the</strong>ir opinions. But many <strong>of</strong> us fi nd our<br />
bodies, incomes, careers, and lives <strong>to</strong> be less than we would like,<br />
whatever we might really deserve. Never<strong>the</strong>less, most <strong>of</strong> us, <strong>to</strong>o,<br />
would fi nd living life without appreciation ra<strong>the</strong>r like eating a<br />
meal without fl avor or living in a world without color, or one<br />
without music.<br />
So we set aside one day <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> year for Thanksgiving, but mostly<br />
spend it eating <strong>to</strong>o much and watching football. Gratitude comes<br />
hard for us for many reasons. For one thing, we spend nearly half<br />
a trillion dollars on advertising <strong>to</strong> cultivate ingratitude, arguably<br />
<strong>the</strong> source <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> seven deadly sins. 9 The result is a national cult<br />
<strong>of</strong> entitlement, <strong>the</strong> desire <strong>to</strong> have as much as possible for doing as<br />
little as possible. For ano<strong>the</strong>r thing, <strong>the</strong> pace <strong>of</strong> modern life leaves<br />
little time <strong>to</strong> be grateful or awed by much <strong>of</strong> anything.<br />
But <strong>the</strong>re are deeper reasons for ingratitude. Gratitude does<br />
not begin in <strong>the</strong> intellect but ra<strong>the</strong>r in <strong>the</strong> heart. “Intellect,” in<br />
Bro<strong>the</strong>r <strong>David</strong> Steindl-Rast’s words: “only gets us so far . . . It is <strong>the</strong><br />
task <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> intellect <strong>to</strong> recognize something as a gift” (1984, p. 13).<br />
To acknowledge a gift as a gift, however, requires an act <strong>of</strong> will<br />
and heart; <strong>to</strong> acknowledge a gift is also <strong>to</strong> admit “dependence on<br />
<strong>the</strong> giver . . . but <strong>the</strong>re is something within us that bristles at <strong>the</strong><br />
idea <strong>of</strong> dependence. We want <strong>to</strong> get along by ourselves” (p. 15). To<br />
acknowledge a gift is <strong>to</strong> acknowledge an obligation <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> giver.<br />
And herein is <strong>the</strong> irony <strong>of</strong> gratitude. The illusion <strong>of</strong> independence<br />
is a kind <strong>of</strong> servitude, while gratitude—<strong>the</strong> acknowledgement <strong>of</strong><br />
interdependence—sets us free. Only “gratefulness has power <strong>to</strong><br />
dissolve <strong>the</strong> ties <strong>of</strong> our alienation,” as Steindl-Rast puts it. But<br />
“<strong>the</strong> circle <strong>of</strong> gratefulness is incomplete until <strong>the</strong> giver <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> gift<br />
becomes <strong>the</strong> receiver: a receiver <strong>of</strong> thanks . . . The greatest gift one<br />
can give is thanksgiving” (p. 17). To say “thank you” is <strong>to</strong> say that<br />
we belong <strong>to</strong>ge<strong>the</strong>r—<strong>the</strong> giver and thanksgiver—and it is this<br />
bond that frees us from alienation.