Does obligation from a gift fade over time?
It does, and the speed depends entirely on the value of what was given. A cheap, low-value exchange like a social media like loses its pull in seconds. There’s barely any sense of debt to begin with. But a real obligation can last a lifetime. Look at Ethiopia and Mexico. In 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia, and Mexico, a country half a world away that knew what invasion felt like, sent aid. Fifty years later Mexico City was leveled by an earthquake, and Ethiopia, a poor nation that had peaked financially in the 1930s, sent money back. The reason they gave was the debt they still felt owed. Decades did not erase it because the original gift carried real weight. So when you give a patient something genuine and substantial, that obligation holds. Give a token, and it’s gone before they leave the parking lot.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.