Gratitude is the only feeling that can always be morally demanded

Evidence

Lying dead beneath the bell were two magpies — the very parent magpies whose chicks he had saved that afternoon. The two birds had followed him. And in the night, understanding that their rescuer’s life depended on the ringing of the bell, the two magpies had flung themselves, again and again, with all their strength, headfirst against the great bronze bell — beating their own small bodies against it until it rang. Three times they had struck it, ringing it to save his life — and the effort had killed them both. … The lesson, Korean grandmothers say, is this: a kindness, however small, is never forgotten by a grateful heart — and gratitude, true gratitude, will give everything, even life itself, to repay a debt of love. — , A Year of World Stories, 8823 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Gratitude in folklore can demand the ultimate sacrifice of life itself — , A Year of World Stories, 8823; Trust cannot be demanded, only given freely like a present; Gratitude alone cannot settle the actual debt incurred by taking — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 862

Related

• Gratitude in folklore can demand the ultimate sacrifice of life itself (similarity 0.90)

Broader Connections

• Trust cannot be demanded, only given freely like a present #qualifies (0.82)
• Gratitude in folklore can demand the ultimate sacrifice of life itself #expands (0.80) — , A Year of World Stories, 8823