In which I am a curmudgeon
Dec. 6th, 2008 07:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerMy school had an Alternative Giving Fair today, where different student groups set up booths advertising their sponsored charities, so students could pick a charity, give some cash, and get a nice card to send to Grandma or whoever about how they’d given some money to charity, Merry Christmas, that’s your present for the year.
On the one hand, the whole charity fair thing is cool. You have all these charities to compare and contrast, right at your fingertips.
On the other hand, I don’t think giving to charity and then sending Grandma a card that says “Hey, Granny, I donated ten bucks to Heifer International! Merry Christmas!” actually counts as a Christmas present.
First, the performance aspect bothers me. Giving charitable donations as a gift seems like bragging about them, which is just Not On.
Second, this really feeds the idea that Christmas gifts are about money and nothing more. But gifts aren’t, or shouldn’t be, about money; they’re about generosity and stopping to take the time to care about other people.
Giving a charitable donation and calling it a gift isn’t generosity. It’s trying to kill two birds with one stone when the whole point of generosity is giving more, not giving as little as you can to scrape a pass.
And, okay, if you’re too poor to both give to charity and buy Christmas presents, I can see how this is tempting, but seriously? The only way to give Christmas presents is to buy them? Bake cookies. Offer to do someone’s laundry. Baby-sit for an evening, free of charge. The point is to do something caring and personal.
Whereas giving to charity and pretending that’s a gift is…. “Here’s a crappy Christmas card that says I gave someone else something. Now I’m going to bask in warm, smug fuzzies about my awesome social conscience, when in fact I’m a miser who couldn’t unclasp her grinchly fingers from her bank account or her heart to give to both charity and her friends.”
Because it really is possible to do both.
On the one hand, the whole charity fair thing is cool. You have all these charities to compare and contrast, right at your fingertips.
On the other hand, I don’t think giving to charity and then sending Grandma a card that says “Hey, Granny, I donated ten bucks to Heifer International! Merry Christmas!” actually counts as a Christmas present.
First, the performance aspect bothers me. Giving charitable donations as a gift seems like bragging about them, which is just Not On.
Second, this really feeds the idea that Christmas gifts are about money and nothing more. But gifts aren’t, or shouldn’t be, about money; they’re about generosity and stopping to take the time to care about other people.
Giving a charitable donation and calling it a gift isn’t generosity. It’s trying to kill two birds with one stone when the whole point of generosity is giving more, not giving as little as you can to scrape a pass.
And, okay, if you’re too poor to both give to charity and buy Christmas presents, I can see how this is tempting, but seriously? The only way to give Christmas presents is to buy them? Bake cookies. Offer to do someone’s laundry. Baby-sit for an evening, free of charge. The point is to do something caring and personal.
Whereas giving to charity and pretending that’s a gift is…. “Here’s a crappy Christmas card that says I gave someone else something. Now I’m going to bask in warm, smug fuzzies about my awesome social conscience, when in fact I’m a miser who couldn’t unclasp her grinchly fingers from her bank account or her heart to give to both charity and her friends.”
Because it really is possible to do both.
