There is virtue in gratitude and in being genuinely grateful. The two issues in regard to gratitude is that people aren’t grateful enough of times for enough if blessings or good things or even the not so good things. The other is that even if people do express gratitude it is done in a perfunctory manner.

Like charity begins at home, so does being grateful. Children learn all kinds of behavioural responses from their parents. If parents would lay emphasis on the positive side of everything, even being thankful for all that is, children would also learn to think on the same lines.

However, in today’s world, everyone seeks instant gratification and instant end to unpleasant situations. Gratitude usually stems from the less unpleasant situations. When you know the pain of struggling for something or not having something, receiving the said thing, makes one grateful.

Mathilda Tavares — By email