Squirrel is the single student in the (mixed age) form not to join this year's Secret Santa.
The others look at her, baffled. Why wouldn't you join in? Squirrel shrugs. 'I can't see the point of buying a present for someone I don't know anything about. And it would be obvious if I started asking someone what they like, just to buy them a present they probably don't want. If I buy a present for someone, I want it to be because they are a friend and not someone whose name came out of a bag'.
The students might be baffled, but I'm not.
Squirrel has an alternative way to see the world. One where friendships are made through shared values and mutual understandings; where giving and receiving matters because of the people involved. And not through relationships made as a consequence of being consumers, where giving and receiving is a matter of transaction through retail purchase. She makes friends, and doesn't cultivate them via a shopping mall.
Respect to the young woman.
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1 comment:
I read this in her soft voice. She is magnificent in her strong stance for what she believes in, you've taught her well.
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