I posted about luxury and time yesterday, and got a good response on Facebook. One of my friends wrote something about “the gift of time,” and it got me thinking: what if time WAS a gift?
I don’t mean in the vague sense of time being something to be grateful for. We should be grateful for time anyway. I mean: what if we were able to give people time – not our own, but to give them time itself?
And then I thought: That’s the wrong question. A better question: HOW can we give people time?
The idea I came up with: Gifts can have characteristics or uses that either make people more aware of the time they are spending, or give them a better way to spend that time.
The gift of a pair of sunglasses wouldn’t necessarily qualify; they look good, but they don’t make one more aware of how they are spending time, or give them a better way to spend that time. (I could be wrong, though, and am happy to be shown so.)
The gift of a nice weekend away, doing something the recipient enjoys, could qualify.
A straight razor would qualify. Having shaved with a straight razor for nine years, I can attest to the fact that nothing makes me more aware of every second and every movement than having an obscenely sharp blade scratching my throat. It’s better than coffee for waking up to the world, and better than meditation for being mindful.
The gift of, say, a fancy watch could qualify for both. The gift of a very useful watch probably would.
A company that specialised in gifts that gave the luxury of time, or time appreciation…well. I would wager that in ten years, it might be in a market position to purchase LVMH.
Souvenirs 