Well, nothing like waiting until the last possible day to get things done. On the one hand, I've really gotten quite a bit done but none of that has been writing. I have actually read quite a bit more on the internet, but once again didn't write anything. And though a large part of learning and improvement is seeking out new things and experiences to learn from I really think that it also helps the learning to express the new thoughts.

One last thing before I get into an actual post: I hope to keep things short enough that it only takes about 2-5 minutes to read here. I'm not particularly eloquent with words and I'm not a professional at most things that I'll probably write on so I don't feel that I'm at all qualified to wax on about these things. Instead, I hope that they provide a little insight into what I've been thinking about lately and possibly give others ideas to think about on their own.

Anyway, I was particularly struck by the words of Elder Cook in the Sunday afternoon session of the LDS General Conference where he talked about how we should be more grateful. In particular I was struck by the quote from Brigham Young that he shared: "I do not know of any, excepting the unpardonable sin, that is greater than the sin of ingratitude."

I hadn't ever thought of it on that scale of things and I think that one definitely has to qualify in what way it's more serious than some other sins, but ingratitude is a very tragic thing. I always tend to measure my perception of a sin against how badly it affect someone else and it made me think about how ingratitude affects someone not yourself.

On the one hand one might say that ingratitude is something that only really affect the ungracious person. Sure not being outwardly grateful to someone means that they miss out on hearing the thanks, but just being ungrateful doesn't actually take something from them does it? Hence, how can it be that bad of a sin?

Right now I'm thinking that in this case it's not really a great sin of commission against someone else, but the consequences of ingratitude to one's self are potentially VERY great. Hence the gravity might be in how much you wrong yourself as well as the wrong that is caused to someone else. Comparing it against something like the theft of a physical object, you might be able to more easily make recompense in saying thank you to someone for their act, but I think that ingratitude is something that is so intrinsically linked to who someone is that it's not that simple to make recompense for. Also, you have to think about how timing changes the effects of gratitude and the ability to show gratitude to someone else. Yes there are some things which we can bring up 10 years after an act occurs but the vast majority of things for which we can be grateful are things that, unless caught very near the act, are either forgotten or it becomes a little uncomfortable for both sides to see gratitude. Take for example someone that holds a door open for you. If you give them a smile and a thank you immediately then both sides are uplifted a bit. However if you see someone 10 days later it doesn't have the same effect to give them the smile and thank you. Also, the little things tend to be more quickly forgotten.

Finally, I've recently read lots of words from different people that link gratitude to self value and happiness and happiness right now is something that you'll never be able to get back. Even further, I've seen that being unhappy and ungrateful is something that tends to rub off one others. Sure, you're not actively trying to affect them, but there are still costs to your actions and your state.

Just something to think on.