Could gratitude be the most important emotion of all?

“In the winter of 1941-1942 the threat of danger settled round my neck like a noose and kept tightening.” Marie Jalowicz Simon, a young Berliner, shared the fate of thousands of her fellow citizens who had been unable or unwilling to flee Germany and the Nazi regime.
She was Jewish, lodging in a tiny room with a Jewish family, dodging demands by the authorities that she go out and work in support of the war effort. One morning, the Gestapo came calling. They marched into the house and straight to her bedside, saying she needed to come in for questioning. Thinking on her feet, she asked that she be able to go downstairs and get some food to bring with her. “I can’t run away from you dressed just in a petticoat, can I?”

The officer gave her permission, but run away was exactly what she did. She walked slowly and deliberately to the street corner, and then started sprinting. “I spoke to the first person I met, an elderly labourer, briefly explaining my predicament. ‘Here, come into the entrance of this building,’ he said, ‘and I’ll lend you my windcheater. Then we’ll both go to people you know who can lend you clothes. And if I’m late to work, who cares? It’ll be worth it to put one over on those bastards for a change!’” Jalowicz Simon had to make a split-second decision to trust a complete stranger. He could easily have raised the alarm. But instead he gave her something precious – the very clothes off his back. She successfully evaded the authorities for a further four years, going to ground in the most dangerous city on Earth, emerging at the end of the war, her formidable spirit unbroken.

During that time, despite the obvious hardship, she had hundreds of opportunities to feel grateful. The gratitude must have been exceptionally intense: each act of assistance was, after all, an attempt to save her life. And it worked. Though she was not always able to thank them at the time, Jalowicz Simon recorded her experiences decades later, and each small act of generosity now echoes down the ages.



http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/30/gratitude-most-important-emotion

Gratitude definitely makes you feel blessed and happy

Indeed Eddie, and I think the article and views made have some merit.

To me there is much to be grateful for.

This will make you feel grateful: http://www.globalrichlist.com/

That makes you the 12,263,158th richest person on earth by income.
top 0.2% 


You’re in the top 13.07% richest people in the world.
That makes you the 588,211,707th richest person on earth.

 I am an interesting case of starting with nothing but I have reached higher earning capacity. so much for suggesting it is all hard work, i work hard enough to earn in top 0.2% but because i have no inherited wealth that still leaves me only in the top 13% in the amount of resources owned.

Well Veya...by your own politics as a progressive...you are now required to give 90% of that to the poorest people in your country

I expect the fund for aboriginals to receive a substantial and on going donation from you that will also redcue you to poverty levels.....

Actually i did the maths and don't say 1%
0.01 %
and really 0.0001% is sufficient to to fix the worlds problems. only about 7000 people world wide and even that number can probably be halved..

skynet would do the maths, and act accordingly i want real progress not moving deck chairs.


But since All my wealth is in potential earnings that are taxed and it is all labor/knowledge so I cant write anything off for taxation purposes. I do contribute a relative fucktonne for the amount I actually have, compared to any one born wealthy.  I paid more in actual dollars last year in tax than many multimillionaires that utilize every loophole.

you may have noticed there is approximately 576 million useless rich ---- that produce less value than me even WITH all those resources to back them up, and here i am relying entirely on the grey mush between my ears. Imagine what i could do if given a couple of million in resources.. I'd be 10 times more productive than a fool like trump. (actually I think if you compared starting point to now it would be more like 100's of times)

So is anyone else willing to give that site ben posted a go?

veya_victaous wrote:So is anyone else willing to give that site ben posted a go?

I don't need to. It will say that I'm very poor, and that Veya is clearly a money-grabbing Tory who should give me half his money to make things more equal.

Raggamuffin wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:So is anyone else willing to give that site ben posted a go?

I don't need to. It will say that I'm very poor, and that Veya is clearly a money-grabbing Tory who should give me half his money to make things more equal.

Unless you don't have a typical Western job, you're going to be in the top 5 percent of earners at minimum.

But nobody, and I want to be really clear about this, should have to pay 90 percent of their total earnings -- and nobody does. People might pay 90 percent of the money they earn over a certain threshold (say $500,000) in some countries.

People like us should not be paying those kinds of taxes. Progressives/lefties favor taxation that allows rich people to continue to be rich, not taxation that drops people into poverty.

Raggamuffin wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:So is anyone else willing to give that site ben posted a go?

I don't need to. It will say that I'm very poor, and that Veya is clearly a money-grabbing Tory who should give me half his money to make things more equal.

It's been posted here before I I think?
Loads of people come at the top, our household did, and so will most western parts of the world - it's just a dig rags

eddie wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:So is anyone else willing to give that site ben posted a go?

I don't need to. It will say that I'm very poor, and that Veya is clearly a money-grabbing Tory who should give me half his money to make things more equal.

It's been posted here before I I think?
Loads of people come at the top, our household did, and so will most western parts of the world - it's just a dig rags

Actually it's meant to show how much better off we are in the 1st world, and reflect how poor the world's poorest truly are.

veya_victaous wrote:So is anyone else willing to give that site ben posted a go?

Income - That makes you the 16,386,309th richest person on earth by income. Top 0.27%  

Wealth - You’re in the top 5.64% richest people in the world. That makes you the 253,913,544th richest person on earth.

When I calculated the wealth option I halved the value of possessions, equity etc as I'm married.  I am very fortunate yes, I've always worked hard full time and have a good job.  

What is the point of having money and not being able to enjoy it?  I'll never be rich and I don't want to be either, I'd rather spend my money living life and sharing with others.

I know I've been accused of being generous in a negative way here but when my time is up I'd rather have seen people smile and shared that experience

I think love, closely followed by hate then guilt are probably the most powerful human emotion.

Ben_Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:

It's been posted here before I I think?
Loads of people come at the top, our household did, and so will most western parts of the world - it's just a dig rags

Actually it's meant to show how much better off we are in the 1st world, and reflect how poor the world's poorest truly are.

Quite, but I don't think anyone got that.

I just answered the question....I'm new.

It could be to some but I put LOVE as MOST IMPORTANT.

i think generosity, but the other question is important for what? humanity or in the case of the OP the strength to keep going?

Raggamuffin wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:So is anyone else willing to give that site ben posted a go?

I don't need to. It will say that I'm very poor, and that Veya is clearly a money-grabbing Tory who should give me half his money to make things more equal.

You already said you have shares, So you probably control more

Seth Sentry wrote:
In the wilds of the supermarket aisles, where we hunt bargains like wilder beast
Modern day cave men with his strange quest
Days spent wandering the jungle for a pay cheque
Well amen, more clutter for the cave then
Fill the change tin, poor greedy little ape king
Man it's boring at the top of the food chain

the game we play
greedy little monkeys

Ben_Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:

It's been posted here before I I think?
Loads of people come at the top, our household did, and so will most western parts of the world - it's just a dig rags

Actually it's meant to show how much better off we are in the 1st world, and reflect how poor the world's poorest truly are.

Oh right. So does that mean that people in countries which receive foreign aid should have more gratitude?

Raggamuffin wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:

It's been posted here before I I think?
Loads of people come at the top, our household did, and so will most western parts of the world - it's just a dig rags

Actually it's meant to show how much better off we are in the 1st world, and reflect how poor the world's poorest truly are.

Oh right. So does that mean that people in countries which receive foreign aid should have more gratitude?

I think the fact they have to receive foreign aid shows that they don't have much to be grateful for in those countries. You should really be poor someday, it would be very educational.

Ben_Reilly wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

Oh right. So does that mean that people in countries which receive foreign aid should have more gratitude?

I think the fact they have to receive foreign aid shows that they don't have much to be grateful for in those countries. You should really be poor someday, it would be very educational.

So they're not grateful for the foreign aid, and it doesn't make much difference? No point sending it then.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

Oh right. So does that mean that people in countries which receive foreign aid should have more gratitude?

I think the fact they have to receive foreign aid shows that they don't have much to be grateful for in those countries. You should really be poor someday, it would be very educational.

So they're not grateful for the foreign aid, and it doesn't make much difference? No point sending it then.

There you go. Run with that.