Conscious Choice: Swapping the Gift Box for Alternative Bounty

November 1996

Swapping the Gift Box for Alternative Bounty

How to Celebrate the Season Without Succumbing to Commercialism

by Ana Arias Terry

Like the watercolor painting that projects the bright, awing stillness of a full moon, or the contours of wet clay shaped into the soft, newborn features of a sleeping fawn, alternative giving is an art that transcends the ordinary through the same infusion of essence that breathes within a painting or a sculpture.

Alternative giving — the sharing of ourselves without succumbing to the easy options afforded by commercialism — presents us with the opportunity to celebrate the holiday season in the spirit in which it matters most: through heart and soul.

By daring to be a little different in this and any other holiday season, we have the chance to play with our creativity — an opportunity in decline throughout much of our society. We also get the rare pleasure of choosing a gift that’s unusual in application and thus appreciation.

We all know it’s not the gleam of the wrapping paper or the twists in a bow that count. It’s not even the gadget inside that really matters. It’s the gift itself, the fact of it, that is sweet. How much better if the content of the gift promotes well-being; or assists in some effort to restore or improve a little patch of Earth we’ve managed to destroy; or teaches or embodies high ideals, such as minimal consumption of materials.

Attitude Adjustment
It’s gratifying to think that anyone would welcome a gift that’s worth more to the planet and its inhabitants than any private collection. It’s gratifying to think it, but it isn’t always so. We belong to a tradition of asserting affection toward others by presenting them with a material token. That tradition has left many of us with automatic expectations of a physical contraption. And this expectation carries with it a heavy price tag.

Last year alone, consumers were expected to charge $120 billion on credit cards between Thanksgiving and the 25th of December. That comes out to about $4 billion per shopping day or the equivalent of $2.8 million a minute during that time frame. This level of consumption has the frenzy of a manic episode. But this malady has a cure — and all it takes is a change in attitude, in both the giver and the receiver.

The giver must believe and be comfortable in her convictions that picking up trash, for example, in the name of a relative or a friend, is a gift just as genuine if not more, as one given in a shiny box. At the other end, the receiver must be open to this rare gift and find joy in what it represents. Those attitudes mastered, the two must abolish all expectation of a concrete object to follow.

Great, you may think, that’s a splendid idea. But surely grandma will give little Joey a toy to play with or a stock certificate for the future?

Perhaps we can start considering a dual-approach with children, where they still receive the cookies baked with care or the craft project to fill a snowy day. But this time, these tangibles come along with the words read aloud from grandma’s card. The card that tells them of the alternative gift she dedicated to them when she marched with others to promote world peace. Or when she walked the beach and collected trash left by the careless or the clueless. Or when she spent a couple of hours visiting and befriending a home-bound senior.

Might not this binary approach open our eyes and ears early in life to the values we hold for Earth? Might they help everyone involved become more caring, impassioned adults who make it a point to act on their beliefs? Might apathy not be foiled as our diminutive but significant lives are sprinkled with realistic hope of what our actions can accomplish?

Perusing the Options
It is said that the human mind has many untapped dimensions. Imagine its delight at ranging free among the numerous options in alternative giving. There are at least three major categories where our innovative powers can have a field day, while we as givers enjoy the results. There are at least three ways in which our honorary recipients can delight in the far-reaching benefits bestowed in their names. The first involves the act of volunteering time. The second is in the area of individual acts of kindness. The third provides for a wiser use of money for a greater good.

Time for Others
Time is a gift like no other. It’s the kind of gift that allows you to see and describe to your honorary recipient the difference it made to the smiling youth you agreed to mentor. It’s the kind of gift that lets you hear and pass on a warm, unconditional thank-you from the homeless person you’ve helped to feed. It’s the kind of gift that is worth every ache created by spending your working vacation cleaning up a struggling river. It’s the same kind of gift as the one you found in your Peace Corps Tour — the one that sent chest-vibrating laughter around the world, from the site of the finished sewage/water treatment project, to you, and on to those you love.

Imagine a similar joy felt by your honorary receiver when he or she reads the recounted tale in great detail by way of a card. Few other letters could bring such pleasure as those that recount a pleasure you made. Imagine the delight of a disadvantaged city classroom as you teach them, on behalf of your dad, the basics of wildlife photography. Imagine the joy of sharing the gift by means of a photo by one of the students.

In an era where seeking community has become a crusade for many of us, the prospect of inviting our neighbors to learn a trade we can teach is another welcome gift — and a fulfilling experience for the teacher and the taught. If your thumbs are green, consider showing your neighbors how to prepare, plant, sow, and reap a community garden. If hammer and nails cling to your belt, you show those same neighbors how to build a playlot in the park. If solar panels and other energy efficient technologies are your hobby or profession, share the wealth of your skills so others may someday pass along the same gift.

Through the gift of time, you can give your love and offer a child a second chance. Adoption is no light matter, but what a difference it can make for a newborn, a nine-year-old child who has been raised in foster homes or a teenager whose age makes him difficult to place. And what an honor that can be to the one in whose name you opened your heart.

Solo Works
There also are plenty of individualized options for giving a non-objectified gift. For starters, the body can be a great source of healing for others. If you’re healthy, you can donate blood, or — better yet — platelets and bone marrow to save someone’s life. Such a gift may mean dealing with some slight physical discomfort. But to those who receive our whole hearted gift, it could mean a chance to live — or, at the very least, a step back from death.

If you’d rather do your giving out of doors, then consider these possibilities as alternative gifts to share in the name of others. Before setting out to find out what the woods will whisper to you that day, whether backpacking in the deep mountains, hiking in the local park or strolling casually around the suburban woods, grab a plastic bag and stick it in your pocket. Then, as you enjoy the beauty that inspires, pull out your bag and use it as your portable receptacle to pick up the litter you spot along the way.

It may appear a token effort given all the soda cans, beer bottles, and numerous other non-biodegradable items dropped or left intentionally in woods and along streams and beaches. But imagine what we could accomplish if every person who strolled the woods came back with a filled bag of trash.

Cash for Action
If your short on time, but you have a little cash, you can use your money to support others who do the good works. Consider, for example, what your money can do in Vietnam. Every week, a child is either killed or maimed by land mines leftover from the war as she plants rice, frolics with other children, or collects kindling for firewood. Earthstewards Network is planting trees where there were mines to establish a “Friendship Forest Park.” Contributions to the group are tax-deductible.

In other parts of the world, the donation of money can also have life-altering implications. An old woman in Afghanistan may have the chance to be treated by a doctor whom you help to send. A thankful mother in Burundi may get to see her child saved from the savage blade of a machete. A baby in Guatemala may gain some wait after a debilitating bout of life-threatening diarrhea. These are the types of heroic applications of the money you donate to Doctors Without Borders. This group and its corps of worldwide volunteer docs and medical staff brings medicine to people in need, regardless of the danger or political situation.

Even here at home, there are plenty of non-profit educational, environmental, social and animal welfare organizations in desperate need of funds. They would no doubt welcome your donation in the name of a family member, friend or stranger. But before you drop your pennies in the name of your ten brothers and sisters, consider that in this, as in all gift-giving, you may want to shop. Consider and look for that perfect “alternative” charity, that group who may not have the bucks to spend on high media recognition but whose work is far from second rate. If you decide this holiday season to start a new tradition, consider giving first to the underdogs.

And speaking of dogs... you might want to put the Wilderness Ranch on your list. These folks provide a sanctuary for farm critters and promote respect for all forms of life through education. They also promote cruelty-free, vegan living including alternatives to meat, eggs, and dairy products.

The Ranch leads rescue operations, performs rehabilitation, and acts as a permanent home for sheep, goats, cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys, as well as other animals raised for food. They save and enhance the lives of beings unable to ask for help.

Just Say — Okay!
Give yourself a great present this and every other holiday season: give yourself a moment with your inner voice. You might be pleasantly surprised to find a person who wants to shake off the wrapping and the bows to become a healthier, more wholesome giver. Alternative gifts can be a powerful... well, alternative, to the mean, materialistic machine that haunts the holidays. So allow yourself to become the ultimate giver of alternative bounty in honor of the ones you love, and help others find it in themselves.

Ana Arias Terry lives in the mountains of Bellevue, CO, from where she’s testing the boundaries of true friendship through alternative gift-giving.

Resources

Here’s how to get in touch with the organizations mentioned in this article. All of them gladly accept donations in the name of your loved ones:

Earthstewards Network
PO Box 10697
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Ph: (206) 842-7986; Fax: (206) 842-8918
email: earthsteward@igc.apc.org

Attn: Sra. Carmen Echandi de Meza
Presidenta, Asociacion Damas Salesianas
Centro Sor Maria Romero
PO Box 1581-1007,
Centro Colon, San Jose, Costa Rica
Ph: 011-506-232-3282

Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres)
8 Rue Saint Sabin
75544 PARIS CEDEX 11, France
(U.S. Office Phone: 212-679-6800; Fax: 212-679-7016)

Wilderness Ranch Sanctuary for Farm Animals
PO Box 1507
Loveland, CO 80539-1507, USA
Ph: (970) 493-7153; Fax: (970) 224-1625
email: info@wrsanctuary.org

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