The Re-gifting Dilemma
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
I confess.
Two years ago, my daughter gave me this sweater for Christmas right off the rack from a Structures store. It featured a techno-bizarro pattern that made me dizzy to look at it. I appreciated the cash my kid had laid out for the sweater, and I knew she meant well, and I accepted it enthusiastically and graciously. I packed it back in its box where it stayed until last Christmas.
Then I gave it, never worn, to my brother-in-law who lives 1,300 miles away. In other words, I re-gifted it.
Are you a re-gifter? Probably. According to the snitches who compile data on the spending habits of Americans, 53 percent of the general public is into re-gifting.
Re-gifting is the practice of giving a gift you have received -- giving that same gift to someone else. Gasp! Even if we don't all do it, we've all thought about doing it.
Miss Manners says that re-gifting is okay as long as we don't get caught. If we're going to recycle a gift, remove all traces that would suggest it's been given before.
Let's face it: There are some gifts we just can't get excited about. I'm talking about the fruitcakes, the gaudy jewelry, the stupid appliances for making waffles or grilled cheese sandwiches that you'll only use once after which it will just take up precious shelf space -- all that kind of stuff. It's garage sale stuff that is begging to be given away.
Some people are now taking re-gifting to the next level: de-gifting. With the Internet providing so many opportunities to sell stuff, and people willing to buy just about anything, more Americans than ever are taking their under-appreciated gifts and hawking them on e-Bay.
Is this ethical? Depends upon whom you ask. But ethics columnist Randy Cohen doesn't think it's a bad idea. He argues that if you accept the idea of re-gifting, de-gifting is not much different. After all, the donor expected you to derive some benefit, read profit, from the gift he/she gave. Ultimately, their goal was to bring you happiness, and if selling that gaudy brooch on e-Bay brings you happiness and some cash -- go for it!
So this Christmas, as you prepare to shop, remember that you may be buying a gift that may be re-gifted or de-gifted by the recipient.
I contrast this state of affairs with the gift that comes to us from God, who says, "I will fulfill my promise" (Jeremiah 33:14). God's gift to us is a Branch springing up from the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), and he will bring justice and righteousness to the land (Jeremiah 33:15).
That's not a gift I would ever want to give away.
Two years ago, my daughter gave me this sweater for Christmas right off the rack from a Structures store. It featured a techno-bizarro pattern that made me dizzy to look at it. I appreciated the cash my kid had laid out for the sweater, and I knew she meant well, and I accepted it enthusiastically and graciously. I packed it back in its box where it stayed until last Christmas.
Then I gave it, never worn, to my brother-in-law who lives 1,300 miles away. In other words, I re-gifted it.
Are you a re-gifter? Probably. According to the snitches who compile data on the spending habits of Americans, 53 percent of the general public is into re-gifting.
Re-gifting is the practice of giving a gift you have received -- giving that same gift to someone else. Gasp! Even if we don't all do it, we've all thought about doing it.
Miss Manners says that re-gifting is okay as long as we don't get caught. If we're going to recycle a gift, remove all traces that would suggest it's been given before.
Let's face it: There are some gifts we just can't get excited about. I'm talking about the fruitcakes, the gaudy jewelry, the stupid appliances for making waffles or grilled cheese sandwiches that you'll only use once after which it will just take up precious shelf space -- all that kind of stuff. It's garage sale stuff that is begging to be given away.
Some people are now taking re-gifting to the next level: de-gifting. With the Internet providing so many opportunities to sell stuff, and people willing to buy just about anything, more Americans than ever are taking their under-appreciated gifts and hawking them on e-Bay.
Is this ethical? Depends upon whom you ask. But ethics columnist Randy Cohen doesn't think it's a bad idea. He argues that if you accept the idea of re-gifting, de-gifting is not much different. After all, the donor expected you to derive some benefit, read profit, from the gift he/she gave. Ultimately, their goal was to bring you happiness, and if selling that gaudy brooch on e-Bay brings you happiness and some cash -- go for it!
So this Christmas, as you prepare to shop, remember that you may be buying a gift that may be re-gifted or de-gifted by the recipient.
I contrast this state of affairs with the gift that comes to us from God, who says, "I will fulfill my promise" (Jeremiah 33:14). God's gift to us is a Branch springing up from the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), and he will bring justice and righteousness to the land (Jeremiah 33:15).
That's not a gift I would ever want to give away.
