Conceptualizing "Free Gifts"

In thinking about the concept of giving a "free" gift, I do not believe, on a literal level, that any action goes without selfish intent, whether conscious or subconscious. Human nature is built on a system of wants/needs. Some sort of want is always the basis of a gift.

To argue against that statement, one might say that charitable acts are gifts given freely. Generally speaking, those acts can be labeled as “free,” but taken down to a basic level one who commits acts of charity is satisfying a desire to do “good.” This being said, an exchange occurs; whatever action was committed has been paid for.

The only reason people would like to believe that a gift can be free is because we create moral “codes” in which we live and behave. By “freely” giving a gift, we are only satisfying this inherent need to follow a moral code, whether the source of action is out of compassion, sympathy, religion, law, or society’s opinion of the individual.

No gift is “free.”

a gift for a gift

Whenever anyone mentions free stuff I can’t help but perk up a little, but there’s usually always some kind of catch or an expectation for you to give something in return. Last Wednesday for example I went grocery shopping at Jewel’s and right when I entered this guy shoved some poster of Chicago into my hand and told me it was free but when I walked away he started asking me to sign up for this newspaper for only $1. Since he had given me this free poster he expected something in return-a gift for a gift. I kept walking though and I did make it out with a free poster but in a way I still felt obligated to sign up for the newspaper. Giving gifts has turned into a way to get what you want. Even as a child I used gift giving for the sole purpose of getting something in return. Whoever gave you a gift for you’re birthday you would automatically get them a gift for their birthday even if you didn’t like them, and vise-a-versa. Also, depending on what they gave you would determine if you got them a cool gift or just a generic gift. I don’t like getting gifts a lot of the times because I feel like I have to repay that person in some way.

generally I do not think that there is any such thing as a free gift, but I do think that there are some exceptions depending on who is giving you something and what it is. When I left for Chicago one of my good friends gave me this little star wars toy to take with me and even though it’s something silly it means a lot to me because it reminds me of back home and all my friends and all the crazy fun times we had together. That’s probably one of the only times when I received a gift and I didn’t feel obligated to give back something in return.