What I need to ask is if we have gotten so " thing" oriented that we can see nothing but the object? I have several things in my life that would not be close to my first pick, but the person who gifted them to me is important to me. When they visit there is their gift to welcome them. They know I love and value them and their attentions. When It catches my eye, the gift warms me: I was thought of to go to some trouble for, I am loved, and so on.
The quilt on my bed right this moment comes from a dear friend. She made it for me and gifted it to me with love and a quirky smile. She is my "other person." We are absolute opposites but we complement. The quilt is the last set of colors in this world i would ever choose. It is the prissiest thing you could ever see. She never said it, but I suspect she was gently pressing my highly geometric, tailored, unpastel world outward.
Can we no longer see beyond the thing to the person who gifted it and why they gifted it? Isn't that the most important thing?
P