Giving Is Complicated

One cold December night many years ago, a neighbor knocked at my door and presented me with a Santa-shaped plate of chocolate-studded, ginger-scented homemade Christmas cookies, beautifully decorated and wrapped in a bow. I was aghast. The cookies looked extraordinary, but I had nothing for her. I was new to the neighborhood, but not to the protocols of gift exchange. Accepting her kindness without offering anything in return felt awkward and embarrassing, to say the least.

The holiday season is a good time to remember that giving is one of our most complicated forms of social exchange, rife with pitfalls and fraught with moral, emotional, and political significance — even when it comes in the shape of a cookie. Our show “Giving Is Complicated” unwraps a few of the complications involved in giving — and getting.

— Anne