I'd Like to Thank You

I always ask myself: how much appreciation is enough appreciation, and how much gratitude is enough gratitude?

We all have times that we feel that the effort put into a certain task was not rewarded with enough gratitude; or to put simply, we feel unappreciated. Then what exactly justifies the effort, time, money, or whatever resources we've put into the task?

The amount to appreciation we expect varies across the groups of people in our life, and if I were to formulate it, I would say it's directly proportional to the amount of obligation we feel towards the person. Certainly I wouldn't expect that much gratitude from a family member than from a complete stranger, because we know for sure that as selfish humans, it takes a lot to want to help a person who has no relation to you whatsoever, and I mean those that are not even acquaintances - like the door-to-door pedlars, or the elderly selling tissue packets.

And we all say true passion drives a person to do things without expectation of any returns, not so much as more than a "Thank You". Even the slightest, most insignificant of gesture rendered to a person as assistance should be rewarded with that.

To be honest, I really do feel appreciated for the effort I put in. For those that cannot spare even that little gratitude to me, I can't be bothered with them anyway. It's just how the world works. Some people appreciate what you do, and some don't, but we don't go around blaming people, demanding gratitude, or harbour a grudge for some sort of indebtedness. We move on. And I will tell myself that everyday.

Sometimes all it takes is a little defamation to soil the reputation you take forever to build up. The feeling sucks, believe me. But I really feel so jaded that I don't want to care anymore. You know when people tell you "I don't give a fuck",  and they genuinely mean it? No, I don't feel that way, but I feel like I'm inching towards that and I don't like where this is taking me.

It's time to reign back that feeling of being unappreciated.