The Philosophy of Malcolm

Hello group of people that don't read anything I write, maybe you'll be reading this one day in the archives though. Today I sold some computer hardware that was given to me by my very generous uncle, may God bless him for that, and I received another client to do some tech work for, so hopefully everything will go smoothly with that.

On buying presents for people:

The key I think to buying presents for people can be summed up in a short little paragraph. Do not ever buy people stuff they will not want, even though you may like it yourself. This will always cause anxiety in most people because well, most people are pretty selfish, and I will be the first to admit, I often times fall into this mode of "Why would you buy me that?" mentality. Obviously we have to remember that Christ himself led a life of poverty and his predecessor St. John the Baptist probably even more so, who was an aspect of Christ if you think in theological terms. The most important thing about Christmas is to get gifts for people that reflect your love for those people and their well being and happiness. That means not buying people stupid garbage like videogames, bad films, and lude books or CD's. We don't want to offend the cute little baby Jesus in the manger. When you buy gifts for others think of Jesus's gift of his humanity, especially in his little hands and feet and you will be given the grace and light to understand how little we are ourselves are compared to him and how evil it is to lead others into sin. Try to get presents that will foster leisure and intellectual thinking or useful practicality. Certainly if we have read St. Thomas or Aristotle at all, we would be quick to pray and do all things for other people in order that they may foster an interior movement towards Christ. For most traditional Catholics I think there can be a temptation to only get specifically religious gifts for people during birthdays or holidays, and I find this a temptation that may not seem like a bad idea, but for those who do not care about the faith, getting them something that will bring them closer to you and to trust you more instead of a religious book per se, will give them the ability to see Christ more clearly in you if you are devout.

I hope this little tidbit will be of some help for you if you haven't already gotten all your gifts.