Theoretical Gifts

The other day I was out shopping for a birthday present for a baby, something I know as much about as I do animal husbandry. This particular baby, who may well be an infant (he's one year old), is one I've only seen in pictures, but he's damn cute nonetheless.

One of the better things about giving presents is you get to impose your taste on others. You can't often do that, so any chance to do so should be greeted with delight. Another good thing about presents, about the ones you receive, is even if you don't care for the particular item you're pretty much stuck with it. Oh, sure, you can "re-gift," and give it to someone else, but then your own taste is suspect.

Since someone's gone to the trouble of selecting and wrapping something they hope to delight me with, I can't ever just toss it aside. There's a part of them in there and, no matter how much it conflicts or jars with my personal taste, I have to cherish the thought and effort. It would be the height of affrontery to simply cast it aside, it would be as if I was tossing the person and her or his feelings into the trash.

I can't do that.

I didn't find what I was looking for as far as the baby was concerned, but I did find a Vans shoe store. I'd been looking for a new pair of shoes, something I'm proud to say I have confidence in buying (unlike most things), but the shoe stores downtown never had my size. This store, an official Vans store that sold only Vans items, did, and I got me some new shoes. Since I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to keep my possessions down to a more manageable level, I cast off my old shoes and wore the new ones home.

I was thinking of all the homeless in Santa Monica when I carefully placed my old shoes in the trash, but upon riding out of town I saw that most of the homeless (and, there are legions of them in SM) were wearing better shoes than the pair I'd discarded.

That's fairly humbling.

So maybe someone got my old shoes, but I doubt it. What *did* happen is I went on the Internet and found something for the kid.