\"I can no other answer make, but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.\"
There's nothing wrong with gratitude, as far as I'm concerned, but I'm starting to get a bit fed up with privileged middle class people like me walking around expressing gratitude for the universe as though that's going to make everything okay. If I'm sounding a bit grumpy I suppose it's because I always had a bit of a bad attitude towards gratitude. When I was a kid it was presented to me as something I resented. If I didn't thank grandma profusely enough for her latest useless birthday present my mum would tell me off for not showing enough gratitude. (And by the way, when you're trying to type your shownotes at speed one of the hardest words to consistently spell correctly is gratitude.)
But how much is enough? Shakespeare understood the dangers of making gratitude dependent on certain flattering behavious. King Lear has three daughters and he famously punishes the third one for not showing him enough gratitude. Oops chose the wrong one there mate.
Imagine thinking just because you're the king that people should be forced to show you gratitude.
Timon of Athens is the most generous king you'll ever meet, he expects nothing in return - until things start to go a little bit wrong, and debts are called in. Suddenly all those people he thought were his friends, simply because they liked hanging around him when he had money, are nowhere to be seen. Now he rails against their ingratitude. He's like my mum, only a lot angrier, also my mum never got banished from the kingdom, at least so far as i know.
At this point I think okay, I get it now. Timon's journey from riches to rags incorporates anger and denial along the way. But as the journey continues he comes to terms with the loss, and realises all that wealth was meaningless. When things go wrong, showing gratitude for the things that matter in life can be empowering.
Then again, if you listen to this show all the way to the end, and leave a nice review wherever you listen, I will be eternally grateful to you. Thank you for reading up to now. (Okay Dave this is getting obsequious, leave the poor reader alone.)
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