by Brittany Murrietta

Created on: December 29, 2010   Last Updated: January 03, 2011

Who could forget the first time you tore into grandma's red and green wrapping paper, threw the lid off of the box it had clung to, and came face to face with none other than the ugliest knit Christmas tree sweater you'd ever seen in your entire life.  Your heart may have sunk before you looked up at that old woman's sweet face and forced a smile, " Thank you Grandma I love it." Grandma was overjoyed.

But could you imagine how this scenario would have played out had you been honest with your grandmother? What if you looked her in those wrinkly specs and told her that the sweater she'd spent two weeks knitting for you was hideous? Chances are, she'd feel terrible, hurt, and you would look completely ungrateful, and sort of like a prick at that.

See, there are reasons one is supposed to accept  gift with gratitude: because no one owed it to you. Gifts are given out of the generosity of someones heart, not because they scribbled out an IOU last new years promising you the new I POD. For the receiver to insult the giver is morally disruptive, and particularly cruel.

There is a saying that goes, "put the shoe on the other foot," it entails that one puts him or herself in the opposing person's position. Let's imagine that you are the gift giver, and you've just saved up two hundred dollars to buy your significant other this really mystique watch you saw at the mall a few months back. Going to buy it you were excited, wrapping it you were enthralled, and now as they open the gift you've spent all that emotional amplitude on, their smile collapses to a frown.

"This watch is ugly," your receiver tells you. Your immediate reaction is a negative emotion. All that time you spent shopping for this person, all that money you've just spent on this person, just to get a a smile and maybe a positive look sprawled upon their face, is completely wasted. In addition, that's got to hurt. Do you now see how it feels to give a gift which is accepted ungracefully?

It doesn't take much to fake a smile and say thank you. No one is forcing you to put the gift given to good use. Besides, chances are you're able to return it, or at least gift it to someone else. Can anyone say, White Elephant party? Now get out there, and BE NICE!

Learn more about this author, Brittany Murrietta.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.