2008 Woodie Awards
Give a gift with meaning
Peter Burke, Opinions Editor
Issue date: 12/5/06
Last Updated: 12/29/07
Approaching Christmas gift giving is a difficult proposition for me.?As I have gotten older (and become a poor college student) the gifts I have come to appreciate are the socks and underwear rather than that special edition box set of the Star Wars Trilogy.?
I have found that the gifts I like are useful in my day-to-day life rather than a novelty that sits on my dresser gathering dust.
Considering all this, I am frustrated by the tradition to give something to every last relative, mainly because of the financial obligation that goes hand-in-hand with gift giving. There is a direct correlation between your budget and the quality of the gift you give. Many times, although thoughtful, gifts we give to individuals will be thrown in the back of the hall closet or stuffed underneath a bed. We end up giving things to people because it is important that they know we are thinking about them at Christmas time.
When someone buys a token Christmas present that is given for the sake of giving, the age-old excuse of "It's the thought that counts" rears its ugly head. Yes, it is the thought that counts, but why buy a "stuff" present when the only thing that counts is the thought itself?
So this begs the question: What kind of gift do you give to the person who has everything??
Partners International is a Christian organization which partners with 105 indigenous ministries in 59 countries around the world. The organization uses holistic methods of service, proclamation and reaching out to women and children to encourage growth of Christian communities around the world.
At Christmas time, Partners has a program called "Harvest of Hope" which allows me, for example, to buy a gift that will benefit a community in need. The catch is, Partners allows me to give the gift in the name of someone else. They set it up so that when you order a goat for a community in India in the name of your relative, they will send you a certificate for you to put in a Christmas card saying that the goat was given in your relatives' name.
I have found that the gifts I like are useful in my day-to-day life rather than a novelty that sits on my dresser gathering dust.
Considering all this, I am frustrated by the tradition to give something to every last relative, mainly because of the financial obligation that goes hand-in-hand with gift giving. There is a direct correlation between your budget and the quality of the gift you give. Many times, although thoughtful, gifts we give to individuals will be thrown in the back of the hall closet or stuffed underneath a bed. We end up giving things to people because it is important that they know we are thinking about them at Christmas time.
When someone buys a token Christmas present that is given for the sake of giving, the age-old excuse of "It's the thought that counts" rears its ugly head. Yes, it is the thought that counts, but why buy a "stuff" present when the only thing that counts is the thought itself?
So this begs the question: What kind of gift do you give to the person who has everything??
Partners International is a Christian organization which partners with 105 indigenous ministries in 59 countries around the world. The organization uses holistic methods of service, proclamation and reaching out to women and children to encourage growth of Christian communities around the world.
At Christmas time, Partners has a program called "Harvest of Hope" which allows me, for example, to buy a gift that will benefit a community in need. The catch is, Partners allows me to give the gift in the name of someone else. They set it up so that when you order a goat for a community in India in the name of your relative, they will send you a certificate for you to put in a Christmas card saying that the goat was given in your relatives' name.
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