Oh. I guess I see what you're saying about Barbara Walters now.

[Fran Kubelik]

I'm home from work today, and watching the View. She's ranting about not wanting to receive gifts of charity donations in her name, because the giver is the one getting the tax deduction. Wow. That's ugly. :(

[PeaceNikki]

1.

That's almost the selfishest thing I've ever heard.

[redqueen]

2. I love to hear Kathy Griffin rip on her.

:rofl:

[VenusRising]

3. Considering it's the giver's money being spent

I would say they absolutely have a right to the tax deduction.

Disgusting.

Sounds like Hasselback has rubbedd off on Baba. :eyes:

[skygazer]

4. Well, quite honestly I think that's a shitty gift and I always have

Not because of the tax deduction - that's pretty bizarre - but because its not a gift in any way, shape or form. It's one of those things that makes the giver feel like some selfless hero and offers nothing to the recipient.

I'm not a greedy person who's only looking for "stuff" and I do give to charities of my choice. But a gift should be something special and personal to the person you're giving it to. Otherwise, why bother?

The exception, of course, is when its given to people who have expressly said that's what they want.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. I actually agree with Baba WaWa on the tax thing, but unlike her I'm not a brazillionaire.

Perhaps it's because I've heard coworkers crow about it being the smart solution to avoid all the hassles of thinking about a gift that really matters to someone, AND it pays back at tax time. Win-win!

I had a friend whose husband was even cheaper still -- he would designate the charitable gifts as in honor of someone even though he intended to send the check anyway.

I'm with you. Unless one is certain that the person would feel gifted by the charity donation, it's no gift at all.

[plcdude]

6. gift

Have we lost the meaning of gift? In latin the word for gift is donum which, of course, is the root to the word donation. It seems to me that I was taught that if someone cares enough to give you something you should be grateful or full of grace or love about it. My grandmother gave me underwear and pajamas every year for Christmas and I thought wow what a lame gift but my parents appreciated this practical and needed present and let me know that I someday would also see this as an act of love. "When I was a child I spoke, understood, and thought like a child but when I became an adult I put away childish things." Perhaps Barbara should be an adult about this.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. After reading the examples I gave, how does "care enough" figure into it?

Both are in fact selfish and self-centered approaches to giving, and I think that may have been what Barbara was driving at.

Older relatives and gifts of underwear or other practical things provide an opportunity for a lesson and it sounds like your parents like mine, worked to make you understand the care and love behind it. As skygazer wrote, sometimes the gift to charity in honor of someone is a true gift because the charity is meaningful to that person. That's entirely different from slapping someone's name on a check just so you can cross them off your gift list and save money on your taxes.