COMMENTARY: Too spoiled to be grateful, too comfortable to help

c. 1996 Religion News Service (Dale Hanson Bourke is the author of”Turn Toward the Wind”and publisher of Religion News Service.) (UNDATED) By the standards of most of the world, Americans are extraordinarily fortunate. No wars threaten our borders, no famines claim the lives of our citizens. The vast majority of our population is employed, well […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

(Dale Hanson Bourke is the author of”Turn Toward the Wind”and publisher of Religion News Service.)

(UNDATED) By the standards of most of the world, Americans are extraordinarily fortunate.


No wars threaten our borders, no famines claim the lives of our citizens. The vast majority of our population is employed, well fed, safe and warm.

And yet there is a growing threat that comes from our very own fat and happy population. It starts when we take all we have for granted and become forgetful about what it took to get here.

It increases when we become complacent about exercising the rights that make the United States unique. And it grows critical when we begin to believe we deserve all that is good and shouldn’t take responsibility for the problems we have.

To put it simply, most Americans are too spoiled to be grateful and too comfortable to help those who aren’t. The majority of our population is too young to remember the Depression or a world war and too satiated to imagine true need.

And so when we come to this designated time of thanksgiving, our gratitude is often perfunctory. It’s hard to be truly grateful when you can’t imagine the alternatives to the life you have.

I am as prone to the ills of our society as anyone; as quick to lust after new toys, acquire unnecessary belongings and daydream about what would make me even happier.

But this year, at least, I will have a new sense of gratitude.

My thanksgiving is heightened by my memories of a trip to Sarajevo earlier this year and my encounter with a young woman who had enjoyed all the city could offer before the war.

When I met her, the designer sweater she wore was threadbare, her home had few remaining windowpanes and was crowded with relatives. Her medical school education was indefinitely on hold. Despite her obvious trials, her face glowed with joy.”Before the war we had everything and we always wanted more,”she admitted.”But now we have so little and we are grateful for everything.” She was jubilant because the water had been turned on every other day in her home. Gas, it was rumored, would follow soon. The once-proud citizens of this sophisticated European town were overjoyed at the prospect of basic utilities.


When we asked the young woman if there was anything we could send her from the United States, she quickly thanked us and said no.”We have everything we need,”she replied.

The group of American women on the trip walked away in awe. We found ourselves envious of this woman’s serenity in the midst of rubble. And we recognized our own attitudes in her description of prewar decadence.

I have heard people say,”What America needs is a good war.”I hope not. Instead, I would like to believe that the Bosnias and Zaires of the world will serve as graphic reminders of our good fortune.

All the riches of our country cannot make up for a population that doesn’t accept the responsibility of our good fortune or understand the true meaning of gratitude.

The Bible tells us,”To whom much is given, much will be required.”As we pause to count our blessings during this holiday season, we must also consider the cost of our prosperity. It is far more difficult for us to be truly thankful in the midst of plenty.

MJP END BOURKE

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