It is difficult to overestimate the role that presents play between people. Gifts are not only a sign of affection in the present, but also represent gratitude for the past and a promise for the future between friends, loved ones, or business partners. From what people exchange, you can learn how these presents affect the giver and the receiver in social, psychological, and business ways. So let’s look at this issue in more detail.
Imagine that you need to give a gift to your former colleague, who built a successful investment career after the army. In the next 20 years, your relationship has experienced many trials – distance, competition, and different life experiences. And now you, a life-experienced cybersecurity consultant, are faced with a choice – what to give your army friend? Based on the expertise of our partners from GalaXate, this is an online store of decorative products on a military theme, army comrades buy metal wall decor as presents — so they appeal to their common army past, emphasize camaraderie in the present, and promise iron support in the future.
Table of Contents
Why do people give gifts?
Historical people performed sacrifices as a religious ritual, the essence of which was to part with something valuable. The purpose of the sacrifice was to appease the deities and receive their patronage in return. But as people stopped relying on nature and the Gods, they started to understand their dependence on each other. Thanks to presents, people began to strengthen this interdependence. In the modern world, which is global, multicultural, and less dependent, the present invites parties to some business, friendship, or love relationship.
The evolution of the role of the gift:
- Sacrifices in exchange for patronage.
- Appreciation between equal people.
- Bribing in exchange for targeted action in marketing.
- The image is to impress.
- Invitations to corruption schemes.
Culturologists, sociologists, and political scientists emphasize presents’ unique role in the business world. In European business culture, gifts oblige the recipient to something. If the recipient is a businessman, the donor expects to conclude a profitable contract with him. Accepting a present, the recipient understands that he will have to reciprocate the giver. The same logic applies to relationships between young people of the opposite sex. The girl, accepting the gift, says to the young man – yes, I like you, keep it up.
The culmination of the role of presents can be considered ones made for love. For example, the most famous love gift made by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan – is the Taj Mahal mosque – with the help of majestic architecture, which perpetuated the memory of his love for centuries. In a more pragmatic world, Western European countries gave each other political presents, so France gave America the Statue of Liberty on the day of the centennial of the latter’s independence in 1876.
Who and to whom do they give presents
As a rule, already familiar people exchange gifts – friends, partners, and relatives. But there is an exception when strangers exchange presents, whose role is to make a good impression. Historians note the significant part of gifts in meeting people – presents serve as an exchange currency of trust. For example, Christopher Columbus, at the first meeting with the Indians, gave glass beads to the natives, and the natives gave the Europeans jewelry made of pure gold. So, the present played the role of demonstrating the goodwill and openness of the parties to negotiations.
The negative role of gifts is as a unit of corruption. The point is that in the eastern and developing countries of Eastern Europe, with the help of grants, not entirely honest entrepreneurs bribe officials. First, they are given symbolic presents as an invitation to a deal. If an official accepts such a game, the value of gifts increases along with the value of corrupt services provided by officials.
How to give presents correctly?
It is important to give gifts in a way that the recipient accepts them and understands their meaning, unless the giver does it because he is forced (ex., subordinate to the chief in China), without distant plans or serious reasons. No matter who you are going to give a present to, in any case, this one should be sincere. This one should demonstrate the recipient’s value to you as the giver. From the secondary aspects of giving presents, you should consider the following:
- Place of presenting — this can be public so that others know about your generosity.
- Time – this should either be empty with events that you fill with your gift, or it should be the culmination of the present part of the event as the cherry on top.
- The aesthetic side of the gift design – it can be elegant when it comes to flowers or mysterious when it comes to a household device.
- Finally, consider the role that the present should play in your relationship. With this, you want to tell the recipient – what? — I love, appreciate, or respect you! Or maybe you want to promise a business partner the benefits of a business proposal, or if your business is terrible, you can use a gift to offer a corrupt deal to an official.
The last thing — is that it is strongly discouraged to do unless you have nothing left to lose, for example, the respect of others or freedom. Our partners from GalaXate specialize in military presents. Their gifts are perhaps the only exception that does not require any conventions to be given. Military comrades give each other presents for no reason and far-reaching plans. Gifts for the military are a symbol: we are still in the ranks.
Summary
A gift is an element of people’s cultural capital. Universally, people exchanged presents at all times and on all continents. People equal to each other with the help of donations, make compliments and say – I love, appreciate, and respect you. With gifts, business partners express their hope for further cooperation – this is an investment in the future. Parents, with the help of donations, express gratitude to their children, and couples express love and appreciation; for children, this is encouragement and reward.
To emphasize the role of a present, the giver should consider its time, place, and presentation. The location should be public (unless it’s about secret intimate partners or corruption), the time should be climactic anyway, and the setting can be sophisticated, intriguing, or symbolic. The only exceptions are gifts on a military theme. A present for the military plays a symbolic role – we are still alive.
