Attitude of Gratitude

Asoke K Laha President & MD, InterraIT

A lurking doubt may haunt my esteemed readers as to what is the relevance of this subject in a column that is, more or less, dedicated to the information technology. A few may debate that the forthcoming Thanksgiving might have triggered my thought process. But being an India-born US citizen, I know how important a celebration is Thanksgiving to an ordinary US citizen. I like the pageantry and sentimental values attached to this great celebration. If there can be an alternative narration for Thanksgiving, I would venture to suggest that it should be renamed as a festival to celebrate Attitude of Gratitude. Let me first try to align Thanksgiving with Attitude of Gratitude. I believe the emotional chord underlying both conundrums –Thanksgiving and Attitude of Gratitude – is the same. One can add spiritual dimension to the situation on the presumption that one who is endowed with divine disposition can only be thankful to the benefactors. I believe that presumption is erroneous. Even an atheist or an agonist can be grateful to the benefactors. It is etched on their emotional faculties and not necessarily influenced by divinity. Who have to be thanked for the great digital and other revolutions that we have achieved over millennia? My take is all our ancestors! That includes the primitive man who taught us to hunt with stones, how to make fire from two hard objects, how to clothe ourselves first from the bark of the trees and later using textiles. At every stage, there have been incremental innovations and the urge to accumulate pool of knowledge to be shared among the people and pass on to the progeny. The baton handing of knowledge and technologies from one generation to the other may seem to be a natural and seamless process happened through millennia. Yet, there is a design in that process of evolution. The Darwinian process of evolution is not a cock-and- bull story but followed a predictable rhythm all through the human history. Every generation tried to pass on something new to the next and that process has continued since the birth of mankind and that will continue till the existence of the mankind. To zero in on a single individual or a group of persons to be thanked would be a naïve approach since most of the technologies have been evolved and incrementally innovated to the present form. Even to believe that disruptive technologies have erupted from the blue is a misconception. Such disruptions to happen, there should be a critical mass of knowledge and possible array of applications. At best, such technologies can be short cut driven by the need and that way are not products of fundamental research but byproducts in some sense. Every successive generation may find the contributions of the previous generation basic and even primitive. What do we think about transistor radio or gramophone now? Many may view them as primitive, going by the configurations of modern gadgets. But they were breakthroughs in technological revolution that time. Humanity might have progressed exponentially since then. The equations must have changed. The host might have turned into a predator. But the spirit of the celebrations is still there. Does it mean that the attitude of gratitude is a quintessential human virtue manifested and celebrated in different ways? Every festival, across the world has a, more or less, similar story. Bihu celebrated in the eastern regions of the country, Baisakhi in the Northern India, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Onam in Kerala or Durga Pooja in Bengal are believed to have common undercurrents – obeisance to the supreme, respect to the elders, worship of the mighty powers, who have bestowed blessings – and the list goes on. It may have religious undertones to make them contextual and understandable to the ordinary folks. The fact that most of the festivals come after the harvest season gives credence to the belief that they resonate attitude of gratitude. That seems to be the basic instincts of human being, cutting across faiths, religions, cultures and races. The beauty is that they follow rhythmically and in a seamless manner. Millennial history of civilizations is abound with contributions of unknown persons to add value to the knowledge. History lists only such breakthrough innovations and discoveries and not people who had invented them. By and large, it is the contributions and not the people behind contributions who are being recognized and celebrated. Only the profound names may be etched on to the history and the rest get buried into the vastness and depth of the knowledge that have accumulated. Hundreds years from now, people may talk about the digital revolution of the 20th and 21st centuries that made the difference at that point of time. To expect people to talk about the people behind such breakthroughs is pinning too much hope on the progeny. The only recognizable thing at every point of history will be “change” and the dynamics surrounding it and not the change agents, who will become oblivious in the womb of history. Then, to whom we should express our gratitude. To every human being who lived before us and to those who will live after us. For those who lived before us for creating a pool of knowledge for us to inherit and improve upon. For those who come after us for preserving the knowledge, making use of it and improving upon it. Why Gandhi and Einstein are living through centuries? It could be on account of their right approach and righteous temperament to give back immensely not only to the society they lived but also to generations to come. President Obama, in his autobiography, has explained how he got charged by the Gandhian philosophy. The philanthropic efforts of Bill Gates are borne out of the trusteeship concept propounded by Gandhi. Why to go so far, the new buzz word, corporate social responsibility (CSR), has its origin from the attitude of gratitude. It is an organized effort to give back to the society its due, which has helped them to grow and flourish. That way, the Attitude of Gratitude has lived through millennia and will live through as long as the humanity exists.