“All nations have their emotional pitfalls; As for South Asians its an odd predisposition towards self pity. Every one of us thinks that tragedies are the exclusive monopoly of our biographies. Perhaps it stems from how much our culture values sacrifice and the idea that we have suffered for others and been patient in the face of it fits right into romanticism. Emotional patterns for any nation are best depicted by that strata which is most honest with emotions to begin with – females. In that context every married female perceives herself as the the most persecuted being on earth. Every unmarried female perceives herself as the most misunderstood being on earth. Hence the success of such dramas in the south Asia media where the daughter in law is maltreated. Males relish the idea of being the one ostracized for taking the hit while protecting another. There is a simple solution to this self deception: perpetual gratitude. The problem is perpetual gratitude lacks the addictive bitter sweet feeling that accompanies self pity – the guilty pleasure of the masses.”
A friend who I have a high opinion of came up with this gem as his Facebook status.

Thinking about it deeply, I seem to understand where it is coming from and going. The solution presented here, perpetual gratitude, would work if we were to proceed with no expectation whatsoever (thanks to a comment on this status). This again makes me most uneasy, having no expectation means that one does not exercise any mental ability on a problem/situation. Imagine the following, let us assume an unexpected situation of some kind were to come up (you do badly in a test you thought you aced). A small problem, you already had an expectation as you thought you aced the test. Now imagine another situation, you appear for a test in subject/course you do not particularly care about. The result comes in – you did well, you are relieved; you did not do well, you merely shrug your shoulders. So it seems that perpetual gratitude comes attached with perpetual apathy and that, is perhaps the most dangerous thing. Apathy does not know any borders or limits and will spillover into everything one does or attempts to do. So the question that now arises is, if perpetual gratitude is the solution to the problem of perpetual self pity but leads to the problem of apathy, what is the solution then?

I have none at the moment that would work for everyone (suggestions are most welcome, leave a comment), only one that works for me because of my mental makeup and my attitude to life (yes it actually is that different, tried and tested).