Gift: Luxury or Necessity?

Receiving gifts is wonderful! But have you ever received help when you really needed it? A gift is something tangible, something handed over, which we can even be proud to give, even if it's an experience and not just a product. At some events or parties, there’s almost a competition for the best and most significant gift received. Worse yet, there’s mockery or disdain for simpler, less ostentatious gifts.

There's a certain pride in giving a good gift. We swell with pride in giving an expensive, high-value gift. Because it demonstrates power. Using these verbs in the first person plural, I speak for all of us because this is ingrained in our collective unconscious, embedded in our culture, and passed down through generations.

Humbly asking what someone needs as a gift, genuinely, would be so wonderful! However, this attitude needs to come from the giver, otherwise, it will sound pretentious if the people involved aren't intimate enough for such a request. Of course, receiving expensive sneakers, an electronic device, a cell phone, is great! But a health treatment, a private medical consultation with a specialist, a payment of an outstanding bill, would sound like music to the ears of someone in need...

We display the gift, show it off, even brag about it! We flaunt the gifts and at times, especially for more discreet people, it’s easier to show off what we received as a gift than what we bought. We must be careful even with others who gave us something less grand to avoid embarrassment at parties and celebrations.

Ostentatious gifts indeed have the same impact as something of equal value that meets a necessity. I'm sure everyone remembers someone who, instead of giving you something you didn’t need, brought you something you truly needed, and this can include things like a television, fixing a cell phone, uniforms. This information can come from an honest conversation or even good research with people around.

In a simple analysis, we can see that the “luxury” gift is for show. The “necessity” gift, of the same value as the ostentatious one, is for the recipient! And after all, if what we’re giving is meant to please the recipient and not others, what’s the right choice?