MORE GENEROUS THAN GRATEFUL
Maybe it’s just me, but your series of “Giving and Getting” articles [December, 2006] seem much more weighted to the giving aspect. Even in “Rules of the Game,” which starts with “Giving and Getting,” and seems like it’s going to cover both topics equally, giving is placed before getting. All Penny Winton says about getting is, “Giving comes first. You can’t go out and try to get without giving.” In the other pieces, any discussion of receiving gifts focuses on lousy gifts. For every action of giving, there is necessarily a recipient. Nathan Dungan’s family and friends bemoaned the culture of consumerism and came up with the solution of share checks. Great idea, but still told from the standpoint of the givers. I would have loved to have read one of the letters Dungan had received from a recipient of a share check. And what did Mary Lucia’s sibling do with that gorilla suit, anyway?
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