Emerson's Gift

Gifts

This is an interesting chapter by Emerson. He questions the necessity of giving and receiving gifts . The author questions how they should be given and received. How when we give gifts, we sometimes ask for a gift in return or when we receive gifts how we feel obligated to return the favor. He discusses how gifts that we give don't usually represent the person whom we are giving it to or how we feel about that person. How we put minimal effort into buying an expensive gift for someone that doesn't even have any significant meaning.

Sometimes, the most modest gifts are the ones that mean the most to others and how you feel about that person. For example, my dad once made me a surf board because he knew that I loved to surf. He could have just gone to Surfride and boughten me one, but since he knew what kind of board I wanted and all the demensions, he went ahead and made one for me. This was a very cool gift to receive because its not everyday to say that you your dad made you the surfboard that your riding one.

Another example of this is my grandfather giving me one of his saxophones to learn how to play. I had already been learning the clarinet at the time, but had aspirations to play the sax. I thought it was a meaningful gift because he knew how much music meant to me as much as it did for him when he played professionally.

In all gifts should be given as a representation as to how well you know the person who your giving the gift to. They shouldn't be given without expecting something in return nor should they be received feeling obligated to return the favor.