Gift economies are very extraordinary things. A gift economy is defined as an “economic system in which participants give away things of value to the shared benefit of the community” ( http://www.thetransitioner.org/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Gift%20Economy). According to this definition, one gift economy that I feel apart of is that of helping the less fortunate at a local soup kitchen.
A couple of years ago I started to work at a local soup kitchen in a neighboring town. I started to do this because I needed community service hours for my schools National Honor Society. Going into this situation I was uncertain of how I was going to feel about working at a soup kitchen. As the hours started to go by though, I found that I started to really enjoy myself. I loved helping to serve the food and loved meeting all the people that showed up. After this first time I was hooked. I loved the whole idea of helping the soup kitchen and loved the people that were there. It made me feel good to be helping the community. Ever since this first time going to the local soup kitchen my friends and I have bee going every time that we can get.
The last time I went to the soup kitchen was over Winter Break. My friend called me up last second to go because the group that were suppose to be working that sift at the soup kitchen had to cancel and they needed some people to work. Knowing that we have worked at the soup kitchen numerous times before, the coordinator called my friend up and asked her for our help. That day, a bunch of my friends, who I haven’t seen in a while, got together to hand out lunches at the local soup kitchen. This was a great experience because I was helping others, but also in return, I got to feel good about myself and I also got to see my friends that I haven’t seen in several months.Working at a local soup kitchen is considered to be a gift economy because you are providing people with a warm, healthy meal and expect nothing in return you except to have the joy of helping the less fortunate out. According to Wikipedia, a gift economy also requires you to get something in return without asking for it or really expecting anything in return. A gift economy is like a secret treaty between people. The secret treaty that I had with the people at the soup kitchen is that I would hand out found in return to feel good about myself, like I have done something worthwhile. If no one helped these people out, they would be going hungry and I would feel that I was to blame because I didn’t do anything about it.
To be considered a gift economy, there also has to be motivations for contributing to the cause (Kollock 1999). For me the motivation for working at the soup kitchen is as easy as just to help out. I love helping people out. When I help out the community I not only feel good about doing it but I also love to meet the people that are there. I love meeting new people. It’s probably one of my favorite things to do. Most of the time the people I meet while helping out around the community are the nicest people because they are they because they want to be there and no ones telling them to be there to help out. These are the main motivations that I help out at places like the soup kitchen.
Gift economies are very important in the world that we live in today. Without them many people would not have the services or help that they need to get. I believe that the idea of a gift economy will last well into the future.
References:
Gift economy. (2007, February 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:50, February 8, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gift_economy&oldid=105681971
Gift economy. Retrieved February 9, 2007, from The Transitioner Web site: http://www.thetransitioner.org/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Gift%20Economy
Kollock, Peter (1999). The economies of online cooperation: gifts and public goods in cyberspave. Retrieved February 6, 2007, from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment