“When you’ve done well and another has benefitted by it, why like a fool do you look for a third thing on top – credit for the good deed or a favour in return?” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.
If no-one acknowledges or thanks you for your efforts, does that mean your efforts have been in vain? Is the reward you are seeking the praise of others? When in a supermarket car park and you return a runaway shopping trolley to the chain of trolleys, do you look around to see if anyone has noticed what you have done – as if to seek their approval?
Without praise from others, what else is there to validate you? The reward is in doing the right thing – silently, without fanfare, invisibly, without floodlights and spectacle. If praise comes, acknowledge it humbly and gratefully, but don’t let it influence the initial deed. Pat yourself on the back instead and move onto the next good thing.
