Ingratitude

When little Livia came home from school, she was quite sad.

In the family prayers, she had learned that we should always do good. So whenever she had a chan-ce to be useful, Livia would seize it.

Sometimes it would be an old lady with heavy bags that she would help. At other times it was a visually impaired person who wanted to cross the street, and the girl would readily take them by the arm and lead them safely to the other side. And so she always acted willingly: when a child fell down she would run to help; she would release a kite that had been stuck on a tree branch, talk to someone sad, teach the subject of a lesson to classmates who did not understand it and much more. And because of her attitude, everyone loved her.

His owner, a girl who was walking right behind them, did not like Livia's attitude.

- But why? Livia asked her - Your puppy could get hurt in the trash which is always full of shards of glass and harmful stuff.

- He had to learn his lesson! So, next time, he would not put his nose in the trash! Do not think I'll be grateful to you.

Grabbing the puppy, she pressed him to her chest and walked away, conceitedly.

Thus arriving home, Livia was sad. For the first time, someone did not like her goodwill attitude.

- What happened, honey? - her mother asked.

- Nothing, Mom.

Livia did not want to talk about it. But she could not forget what had happened. She was very sad that night and as she laid down in bed her mother insisted so Livia started to tell her what had happened.

	- A girl was ungrateful to me, Mom! - she said in tears. The mother laid with her and, hugging her, asked her:
- Tell me what happened, darling. Sharing our pain makes it smaller. Besides, maybe I can help you…

So Livia told her mother what had occurred and concluded by saying:

- That’s what happened.

- Is that it? But where is the problem?

- The problem, Mom, is that I did what I could to help, and she was ungrateful to me! I'm seriously thinking of not helping anyone else!

The mother hugged her daughter even more affectionately, and considered:

- Livia, if she has shown ingratitude, it is her problem, dear, not yours. Did you help the puppy to receive his owner's thank you?

- Of course not, Mom!

- You did what you thought you should do, didn’t you?

- I did.

- Every time you helped someone, did you expect to receive gratitude?

- No!...

- So you've done your best in every situation. If this girl did not recognise it, it's her problem! When we do good, we cannot expect recognition from people, otherwise it will seem that there is pride and selfishness on our part; or that we have done that good deed to get gratitude, to be seen. Do you understand? It's as if we were saying: Look how generous I am!

- I got it, Mom. You are completely right. Tomorrow I will leave the house and do as I’ve always done because it makes me feel good and because I like to help other people.

The mother gave her daughter a big hug and, after their prayer, Livia fell asleep contentedly.                  

MEIMEI