For as long as we can remember, gifting started with us before we thought of giving to someone else.
As children, we learn about numbers at a very early age. We get taught by counting our age using our little fingers, adding one more candle to our birthday cake every year, and most importantly, counting down the days until an exciting event like our birthday or Christmas.
Filled with emotions, we would scream with excitement when something positive happened, like when we discovered the toy we wanted for so long. Or cry as a result of something negative, like the sibling blowing out the candles before we get the chance, or worst when we receive a gift we don’t like. When something happens, we react through our feelings and emotions without a thought, making language a priority skill to learn to be understood and share our likes and dislikes.
As kids, we loved celebrating our birthdays. In time, we learn to associate them with positive patterns connected to having loved ones over to celebrate, eating some delicious birthday cake, making a wish while blowing out the candles, and, most importantly, getting the gifts we asked for.
Some gifts last for ages, and some can’t even make it through the day. Birthdays are a day of fun and games we look forward to, changing in time and spending it with different people for different reasons.
Kids are the easiest people to get gifts for. Turn on the Disney channel for inspiration or go to the kids’ section at Kmart and find out from mum or dad which characters the kids are addicted to at this time. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Elsa, The Joker, Dragon Ball Z, and the list continues, lasting throughout generations. They were created by adult storytellers with a child’s perspective, juxtaposing good and evil. Us, judging right from wrong. Oblivious to what we need, we demand the toys of our childhood heroes. Taking them with us everywhere we go. We attract others who feel the same way about their toys and call them friends. We find joy in seeing others joyful and start to want what they have, wanting to be as happy as them. The truth is, we never understood what really makes us happy. So, we go through life seeking that feeling and searching for it through companionship, family, and friends, each for different reasons judged by how we feel.
Children, like adults, are picky with who they befriend. The older we get, the more people we meet, inviting different faces to each celebration. Eager to become an adult and stop being called a child. We aim for independence and contribute to society by figuring out where we belong. We start life needing things, then meet people and begin wanting things, soon to find we cannot afford all the things we desire. So, we start working in exchange for our time, breaking down our sense of worth by the hour.
We earn money to finally buy the things we desire, to organise the party of our dreams, and to invite the friends we want to see. The illusion of money begins to reflect the quality of our relationships as it allows us to decide on whom we spend it. The gifts we give and receive become symbolic of the people surrounding us and reflect different stages of our lives. Through an individual’s spending habits, one can better understand the value each relationship brings to them.
The older we become, the more candles we need to blow out and the fewer friends we eventually celebrate with. As birthdays come and go, we realise that time is the ultimate gift we share, as we learned to call it the present.
So, why chipin? To save our time together, so we can spend it better with the people who make us happy.
–
Fadi
