Picture a Christmas tree. A quick mental snapshot of a Christmas tree at any time of the year can give us immense energy and joy. The colours of the decorations on this festive symbol are also the colours that life shows one from time to time. Red can signify joy, strength, power. Green can allude to growth, fertility and hope. Yellow brings cheer. Silver and gold may be linked to wealth.
Like most other festivals, Christmas also personifies essential human qualities and celebrates the joys that come with them if these qualities are consciously nurtured. Gift-giving is one of the main modern traditions associated with Christmas. This article is an attempt to interpret gift-giving in a way that Christmas can stay with us all year long.
How do we usually select gifts? There are several ways people go about it. Most often, we do a rather material calculation and begin by gauging the importance the receiver has in our lives. Next, we equate that assumed importance and decide the cost, time and energy we are willing to put in.
Most like to sit in the other person's shoes and imagine their likes and dislikes; some also prefer gifting according to their individuals whims. Many equate the worth of a gift with the money involved. Many go out of their way to gift something they can't afford. Many also resent gift-giving because they do not like the idea of being obliged to return the favour as robustly.
After gifts are exchanged, Christmas takes us to the next level of human learning - it teaches us gratitude. Accepting gifts requires a certain grace and dignity, especially when those are the kind of gifts that one cannot repay. The art of gracefully accepting a favour and not getting bogged down by it is something we learn over time. Christmas reminds us that no one is too small or too big to give or receive.
Gifts should have very little to do with money, if at all. Money is the easiest way out. Many non-government organizations will tell you that manpower and genuine involvement of well-wishers creates more long-lasting impact than mere funds. Some of the best gifts don't cost much. Nothing can beat time; gifting someone time and attention is way more pricey than all pricey things put together.
The bottom line is that gift-giving should not be reduced to a mechanical, social compulsion propelled by the power of money. That is rather lazy and artificial. It takes small, immeasurable ideas to make the best gifts.
A Pune-based doctor is in the news for delivering every girl child born in his clinic for free since 2012. Dr. Ganesh Rakh decided this after he noticed that families showed aloofness, sorrow or downright displeasure at being told of the birth of a girl child. They asked for discount. Dr. Rakh doesn't just waive off the delivery fees, but distributes sweets and gifts to the hospital at his own expense to celebrate the birth of a girl child to promote awareness and acceptance.
A crate of eggs and some bread from a well-wisher is all that it takes to cheer up abandoned and injured dogs at a Panaji-based animal shelter. If someone spends 15 minutes to take puppies for a quick walk out of their cages, the lucky canines go to cloud nine.
Some of the best gifts are from strangers. Most of us remember those who gifted in unconventional ways - someone who vacated a seat in a crowded bus, someone who offered a lift to catch a train, someone who agreed to share the last sip of water on an uphill trek, someone who offered hope - these were the best gift givers.
A short story by O Henry exemplifies the selflessness inherent with true giving. Aptly titled The Gift of the Magi, it is the story of a young couple who is flourishing in love but is struggling to make ends meet.
When Christmas nears, Jim and Della wrought secret struggles to decide what gift they can get for the other out of their meagre savings. Young Jim loves his wife Della's Rapunzel hair and sells his only gold watch. With the money, he buys Della expensive hair accessories. Della, to get the ideal gift for Jim, sells her hair at a salon and buys a gold chain for Jim's watch. We are often foolish in love and in life and go to great lengths to get someone what we assume is that perfect gift. As long as those pursuits give us joy and memories, anything given is better than anything taken.
O. Henry sums up quite right at the end of Jim and Della's story:
Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the Magi.
