Saying “I am grateful” is one of the kindest statements today. Appreciating someone or something done for the common good or in favor is humanly fulfilling. It shows that we are human beings able to notice the actions of others around us. The act generates a mindset that makes people think more of other people’s well-being in place of self-interest. Also, today’s world is made up of many challenges that require us to be optimistic, a mindset that can be nurtured when other people appreciate us and vice versa. Gratitude helps us build our lives on the positives rather than the negatives. Through categorization analysis, I will demonstrate that no matter how irrelevant an act of kindness can be, showing gratitude is what makes us human; the world will be perfect if everyone learns to be thankful for others in any benefitting scenario.
Gratitude as a virtue fits nicely as a convincing argument, given its impact on improving societal relations. According to Moyle (2022), when someone makes a convincing argument, they have no goal or intention with their statement but only aim to make us believe them. As a compelling argument, gratitude makes people happy and accomplished in many ways. When people do something good and are appreciated, they are likely to develop a negative attitude toward others. However, appreciating them cultivates a positive attitude, making them more compassionate toward others. In that case, I aim to make my audience see the crucial impact gratitude can have in their lives because it is the truth and nothing that ask them to do me a favor in return. Developing a habit of appreciating things and people truthfully improves our relations with them, an idea that makes gratitude a convincing argument.
Related to a convincing argument, when I ask my audience to portray gratitude because it inspires others to do good, it fits as a persuasive argument. Making others see the benefits of expressing appreciation calls them to action. In a persuasive argument, the arguer aims to change the audience’s attitudes or behavior by calling them to take action or have a stand on the relayed issue (Moyle, 2022). In that case, I aim to cultivate the virtue of thankfulness in my target audience. Lewis Howe, a New York Times best-selling author and motivational speaker, once said in his talks that if we concentrate on what we have, we will always have more, and if we concentrate on what we do not have, we will never have anything. Recognizing and appreciating what we have is the first step towards growth and is best achieved by showing gratitude. Thus, as a persuading argument, I call my audience to show gratitude because it is a secure way of growing.
As an informing argument, gratitude helps people attain mental stability in life. Moyle (2022) contends that informative arguments inform the reader of many ways an issue or the relayed subject can be constructive or destructive to them. At the end of the day, when a person lies down on their bed and reflects on the things that happened, being thankful for the good things helps them attain the desired mental state to sleep well. Worrying about the negatives makes a person restless, necessitating the need to concentrate on the positives and be grateful for the milestones attained. Gratitude is needed to guarantee stability and growth in a person’s life. Primarily, using informing argument to elaborate on the benefits of gratitude shows that I know the concept through research or experience. My audience needs to be informed that when they develop gratitude, they become more positive and happier than complaining about the bad things that happen to them.
Furthermore, I can research to generate evidence-based statistical explanations on how gratitude has impacted individuals or groups. Using evidence to relay a concept or idea is a factual argument. Hence, conducted research to argue based on evidence to help the reader or the audience project the idea in numerical or pictorial format constitutes to factual argument (Moyle, 2022). For instance, gratitude improves our mood by 60% based on an empirical study conducted by a psychologist, demonstrating factual evidence to convince my audience. The research-based information is crucial in demonstrating to my audience how transformative or productive they can be if they show gratitude-based existing evidence. Thus, the evidence in this instance proves that showing gratitude guarantees a growth mindset in a person’s life, where an improved mood helps one be optimistic.
To conclude, gratitude is expressed when a person expresses a thankful attitude and behavior for all positive aspects of their life. Through categorization, the idea fits well when expressed as a convincing argument where the audience is only told of gratitude’s desired impact on their lives. As a persuasive argument, I call on the audience to develop a thankful consciousness and behavior crucial for nurturing a growth mindset. On a factual basis, I use the evidence to prove to the audience how gratitude can improve their lives. The evidence provides a real-world scenario of my argument built on scientific tests. Generally, the arguments prove the essentiality of gratitude as a virtue to improve relations and facilitate growth mindsets in a postmodern society.
Reference
Moyle. (2022). Module 2: Categories of Arguments. Lecture 2.1, PDF.
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