“The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
When Emerson made this observation, he was of the opinion that acts ought to be autotelic in its nature. In other words, acts should be done for its own sake, its end should lie within itself and should not be done for the sake of something else.
Can we learn something from this Emersonian viewpoint? I think so. Think for a moment about the following. When last have you seen someone do something for its own sake, without a means to an end? Acts such as these are not a common sight. Hidden agendas usually drive what otherwise seems to be “good deeds”. This may be substantiated by humanity’s predominance to embrace the “do-ut-des” principle.
This principle expresses the essence of acts done for the sake of getting something in return, I, therefore, do something in return for something else. This is not a good principle to build your existence upon, well, that is my view. I say that we ought to learn that true and lasting rewards and recognition, is to be found within the completion of an act and having completed it in a satisfactory manner. My most favourite philosopher, Immanuel Kant, always said that things should have ends in itself and that it should not be means to an end. Let self-praise for anything done, be our daily driving force. Find the worth in what you have done, exactly there – in yourself. If you do things just to be praised by others, then I think you need to rethink the platform upon which you act.
We can also take this tendency and draw it through to our relations with others. Take a moment and rethink all of your relationships, then ask yourself the following: To whom am I only a means to an end, and to whom am I the end in itself? Do I treat those I have relationships with, as means or do I treat them as ends? I hope they are not means to an end…
Why do we need external gratitude
when we do something for another?
I think its very rude,
and ought to be a huge point of bother.
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