AUNTIE A. ON THE Gift ECONOMY

ATHANA: “Virginia, did you know that human societies used to be based on ‘Mother-Giving’ instead of money? You have X -- someone needs X -- you hand over X immediately. No questions asked, no strings attached.”

VIRGINIA: “Get out, Auntie Athana!”

ATHANA: “No, Viginia, It's true. The outcome was, everybody had enough, everybody happy, no crime, no violence, no murder.”

VIRGINIA: “But Auntie A., how would you get people to give away their stuff? We’re just naturally selfish!”

ATHANA: “Turns out we’re not naturally selfish, Ginnie. It’s only us patriarchals who are selfish. And even with us, it’s not natural – we have to be brainwashed into it by what you could call our ‘culture map’.”

VIRGINIA “Well, now I’m totally lost.”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “It’s simple. Human mothers are natural Mother-Givers. When a newborn is hungry, does a mother say, 'OK, kid, fork over the dough and I’ll feed ya.'?"

VIRGINIA “No.... She just gives the food.”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “Exactly. And without our patriarchal culture interfering, we’d all learn to behave just like Mom. We’d all be Mother-Givers. You need it, I have it, it’s yours.”

VIRGINIA [Snorts] “Boys wouldn’t be Mother-Givers.”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “Sure they would. If their moms taught them to be Mother-Givers, they’d be Mother-Givers.”

VIRGINIA “But moms wouldn’t teach boys to be Mother-Givers.”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “Why not?”

VIRGINIA “I dunno.”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “Hm. Maybe it’s because moms have been brainwashed too. Brainwashed moms don’t think their sons should be nurturers.”

VIRGINIA: “Or Mother-Givers. Not ‘manly’ enough.”

AUNTIE ATHANA: [slamming her sun hat onto the deck railing] “Well, I say bull-pickles to that!”

VIRGINIA: (giggling) “Bull-pickles?”

AUNTIE ATHANA: [Replacing her hat on her head] “Yeah. It’s my new stab at fresh profanity. The old stuff’s wearing out, doesn’t pack a punch anymore. Whaddya think of ‘cess puddle’? That’s what I called my ex-boss today on the way to getting my car oil changed.”

VIRGINIA “Hmmmm.”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “Anyway, back to Mother-Giving. Turns out there’s a lot of Mother-Giving going on -- even in patriarchal societies.”

VIRGINIA “Yeah?”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “Yeah. But it’s mostly women (and a few of our brighter men) who are doing it. But it’s threatening to the patriarchal money economy, so it (the giving) gets swept under the rug.”

VIRGINIA “So giving is going on, but we don’t really see it?”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “You got it. Bloggers are a great example, actually. Typically, bloggers don't get any material rewards for their slogging at blogging. Their efforts are unpaid gifts to readers. Also, didja know that in a money economy ya hafta have scarcity, or the money economy won’t work? If stuff isn’t scarce, then scarcity is created.”

VIRGINIA “No way!”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “Way.”

VIRGINIA “Who says?”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “Go get a copy of Genevieve Vaughn’s book For-Giving. Or, you can read it online. I’ve been reading it all day.”

VIRGINIA “Oh, so that’s why you’re so excited about Mother-Giving.”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “Actually, 'Mother-Giving' is what Genevieve calls it. It’s usually called ‘the gift economy’.”

VIRGINIA: “So if I wanted to Google more about it, my search words would be …”

AUNTIE ATHANA: “’Gift economy’.”

VIRGINIA: “Bye, Auntie. A-Googling I will go, for ‘gift e-con-o-mo’….”

AUNTIE A: “Oh, quit it!"

VIRGINIA: (giggling again) "Alright, if you insist."

AUNTIE A: "If you're not going to read For-Giving, at least go to some good online articles."

VIRGINIA: "'Kay. Like what?"

AUNTIE A: "Like 'Creating a Giving Culture: An Interview with Bernard Lietaer'. Also, Dave Pollard's blog, "How to Save the World" has a fairly good posting on the gift economy. Or, Genevieve has a short article online called "Why We Need the Gift Economy."

VIRGINIA: [Bussing Auntie A. on the cheek] "You're a gift to me, Auntie A."

ATHANA: "Aw, shucks, Virginia! Likewise, I do declare!"