FOCUS ON EDUCATION The Cancer of Ingratitude
In the play King Lear by Shakespeare, the old king sadly learns that after his daughters received their father’s power and property, they cast him out as a useless old fool. Listen the ravings of a once proud king and father as he learns of the ingratitude of his two daughters:
“Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain! Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters. I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness; I never gave you kingdom, call’d you children, You owe me no subscription. Then let fall Your horrible pleasure; here I stand, your slave, A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man.” And later he rants: “ The tempest in my mind Doth from my senses take all feeling else Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!”
How many parents have felt this way after spending years of their lives, and many times, sacrificing their own ambitions