Gratitude is a quality that I personally consider to be a fundamental one, in terms of how a person's character can be measured. After all, as social creatures of this world, a bit of gratitude goes a long way, in ensuring that the fabric of community and togetherness continues on for the foreseeable future. However, as so many recent and past events have demonstrated to us, gratitude is a quality that seems to be singularly lacking in a lot of people. We’ve all probably had an unsavory encounter or two with someone who displayed zero gratitude to us, even when we did that person a favor. And then there are times when the ingratitude really reeks.

Think about the example of the one CEO who fired her employee, after the employee even donated her kidney to the boss. Just typing that sentence out makes me squirm uncomfortably—can you even imagine what sort of heartless (unfortunately, no longer kidney less thanks to the generous act by the ex-employee) human being that boss must be? Zero gratitude can be detected there, which is such a sad statement to be writing about. If someone does you a favor or pulls some strings for you, then the decent thing to do is to at least feel a bit of gratitude for that person. But sadly, far too many people exist who simply cannot fathom that simple fact—yes, sure, there are times when one may need to withhold said gratitude, depending on what is being asked of one. For instance, if someone is expecting you to engage in a crime or unethical action, then maybe, doing that out of gratitude isn't such a great idea (unless one fancies a resultant tense interview with a judicial representative and a long stint in prison).

For me, gratitude is a quality that no other living being shows quite as well as do dogs. I suppose, cats and birds do that on occasion, but dogs are the Kings and Queens of embodying gratitude. Anyone who's ever given a treat to any dog will attest to this—watch the sparkling eyes, and the steadily increasing tempo of the wagging tail, and you can get a measure of how grateful that dog is, for a simple treat or a kind word.