The gift that keeps on giving ...

"The Indian giver understood a cardinal property of the gift; whatever we have been given is supposed to be given away again, not kept. Or, if it is kept, something of similar value should move on in its stead, the way a billiard ball may stop when it sends another scurrying across the felt, its momentum transferred. You may keep your Christmas present, but it ceases to be a gift in the true sense unless you have given something else away. As it is passed along, the gift maybe given back to the original donor, but this is not essential. In fact, it is better if the gift is not returned but is given instead to some new, third party. The only essential is this: the gift must always move."

Hyde, L. (2007) The Gift: How the creative spirit transforms the world, Canongate, Edinburgh, p.4.