Giving, Sharing and Receiving by Michael Patrick Murphys ghost of Christmas past Love causes us to give. That part is easy. Sometimes, we give to others when we can least afford to give. The rich might have an easier time giving because it costs them relatively little, of course unless they buy the biggest diamonds or toys that even they cant afford. :-) Then everybody sets a budget. Each class has its own budget. Some shop at Macys or Nordstroms and pay for chic name brands. Others are relegated to Ross or Target, or even Wal-mart to do their Christmas shopping on a more austere budget. On Christmas morning, everybodys out the cold hard cash, while stores relish the years most profitable month. Christmas jobs end, the bonuses spent, the bills not paid and the national debt grows as it is passed onto the very children we spent all the money on. You might say they bought their own Christmas gifts. Then there are those that insist on giving you things, but who insist harder that you dont give anything to them. There are also those that measure the gift to the quantity of love. When love goes, they want their gifts or money back. They are gifts that might as well have had the price tag left on them. Then there are the sharing people. They give to total strangers and feel better for having done so. They share their wealth with those less fortunate, sometimes to the extent that they become poor themselves. They give before they budget their giving. Next thing you know, they need help themselves. And finally, there are those that value things and money more than their friends and family. There are the hoarders and collectors. They prize what they have more than anything. Were not talking about the Teddy Bear grandfather gave them or the watch their dad passed down. Were talking about brothers and sisters that measure love by the quantity of gifts received or given. They tend to have a love of things or money over people. After awhile, we have expectations from management or friends and family. We rate love based on material gifts. Those all represent the darker sides of humanity. There were still lessons for me to learn. Years ago, I grew tired of this type of expected gift giving, this blatant materialism. I found myself trying to help people when I could barely support myself. Ive decided that I am a lousy people saver. Why? Because I expected that I could save them. More often than not, I discovered that I was brought down and disappointed by the very people I tried to save. It cost me a great amount of wealth and time even though I always wrote off the gifts the minute I gave them. Today, I hope Im wiser. When something strikes me as a perfect gift for someone, I get it. I love to surprise someone for no apparent reason. I dont expect anything in return. And when someone gives me a gift in that same vane, I try to thank them zealously no matter what the gift is. howcast/videos/513550-How-to-Give-and-Receive-Gifts-Good-Manners
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 08:13:03 +0000
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