Christmas is just around the corner (to many Filipinos, at least, 55 days til Christmas is "just around the corner"), and many have begun shopping for gifts in this season of giving. And while this blessed season has largely become impossibly commercialized and trivialized, some still stay true to the spirit of the season and immerse themselves in the joy of giving.
Growing up, we have always been taught that it is better to give than to receive. Later on some of us found out for ourselves that giving is its own reward: you get so much more than what you give with the pure natural high that you get on seeing that something that came from you can make someone smile, can make someone feel better about himself, can make a difference.
Still we live in a self-centered world. And yet, for all the apparent dearth of people who truly live to give, rarer still are those who can take a gift with the perfect happiness and appreciation of the ideal recipient. Though seemingly diametric opposites, pride and feelings of unworthiness can both keep a person from receiving a good gift well: the instinct to resist being beholden to anyone is just too strong.
But just consider this: If giving is all about making someone happy, and seeing your gift so well-received brings such pure happiness, then doesn't it follow that one of the best gifts you can give someone is to receive his gift well? To not begrudge someone the joy of seeing that his gift truly means something? To look at receiving as something other-centered rather than self-centered might be a radical idea, but that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve some merit. If the mere act of taking something already means giving something back, just as long as you do it right, then how bad can it be, right?
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