Hahaha - brilliant - I did not expect that! 
Wasn't it Buddha that said something like 'the essence of all suffering is desire'..?
So being thankful for life's blessings is good for the soul (although I will admit that despite living in quite a nice countryside setting myself, I am gently envious of your scenery over there in Hawaii 
I wouldn't necessarily say desire but it is expectations that is the opposite of gratitude. Not that all expectations are wrong or undesirable. You have certain expectations for your children, for your job performance, your standard of living. But the problem, well not really a problem, but with expectations, when you achieve them you are not really grateful because it's something you expect. I don't rejoice or "clasps my hands and shrieked with ecstasy!" as the poet Percy Shelley put it, whenever the light goes on when I turn the switch. Or when the chair doesn't crumble to the ground when I sit on it. I expect these things. The problem is that people today have unrealistic expectations about life in general. That there should be no down times, no bad times, and when it happens it's like "Why me, God? Why me?" They expect life to be smooth sailing without any bumps in the world. A girl I know just recently had her car smashed from the back and even though she survived without a scratch and has access to another car she's an emotional wreck. Keeps telling me "Why me? Of all the cars in the state he has to hit mine." Like she's something special and should be immune to it all.
So much of a person's life is determined at birth. Where you are born, your physical attributes, the status of your family. So many of the gifts you have in life were not really due just to you, yourself. You can say you worked hard, which may be true, but you have had opportunities that others have not. If you were born in Sudan it's not going to be that easy to get an education and a career. So just living in this country puts you head and shoulders above so many others.
That's why we have to protect it. Our way of life is threatened more than at any time since abolished slavery.
