“Only when people remember the good others have done for them will they have gratitude. Unfortunately, most people remember the bad people have done to them far longer than the good. Or to put it another way, gratitude takes effort; resentment is effortless.” — Dennis Prager, Exodus: God, Slavery and Freedom (The Rational Bible) via Company of Prayer
Kathryn and Jeanne,
Although Dennis does not mention the word forgiveness or the word anger in his quote, I find that those words need to be considered too. While “resentment is effortless”; anger requires energy and is a continuous negative influence in your daily life. “Gratitude takes effort” because it needs to be acknowledged, appreciation is same. I have gratitude (and appreciation) for Mom, because we (Mom and I) created you and we participated in raising two strong and smart young women. Forgiveness is easy, because unlike anger, forgiveness requires no energy and lifts the soul.
Additionally, Dennis did not mention kindness and I refer you to an earlier posted quote, my favorite quote, by Aesop:
“No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted”
I love you and miss you.
Christopher Matthew
Messages To My Daughters 