The trap of packaging 4



Don’t let the packaging prevent you from opening the gift!


I have a friend who wraps the gifts she gives with exquisite paper and elaborate bows.  They are a thing to behold.  Many times the wrapping is better than the gift inside.  I am a lousy gift wrapper.  If you placed my gift next to my friend’s gift, you’d always go for her gift first because hers just looks like it going to be good.  Meanwhile, my simply-wrapped gift goes untouched even though I do give thoughtful, useful, all-around great gifts even when they are thrifty.  (This always happnes when I participat ein Yankee swaps.)


Remember folks that:




  • All that glitters is not gold and



  • All that simmers is not stew and



  • Sometimes great gifts come in nondescript packages.


In the quest for love – or just even a date – people miss each other because they want their romance wrapped in a particular package.  They know the height they want and the weight and the color and the type of hair and they won’t look outside of these trappings to the gift within.


Remember folks that:




  • The package is not the gift and



  • The icing is not the cake and



  • The cover of the book is not the story.



  • You have to open the package to find the glory.


Goodness, kindness, joy, honor, humor, strength, and others of these most important attributes come from within and they come from all the faces, races, ages, stages, neighborhoods and livelihoods of our human tribe and that’s no jive.


Remember folks that:




  • Pretty is as pretty does and



  • Handsome is as handsome lives and



  • The proof of the pudding is in the eating*



  • Not in the package.



<><><>
*According to Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, the phrase dates back to at least 1615 when Miguel de Cervantes published Don Quixote. In this comic novel, the phrase is stated as, “The proof of the pudding is the eating.”


 


About Candelaria Silva

Candelaria Silva-Collins is a marketing, community outreach and programming consultant; writer; and trainer/facilitator who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. She has designed and facilitated workshops on a wide variety of topics including communication, facilitation, job search skills, team building, and parenting issues. She currently coordinates the Community Membership Program of the Huntington Theatre Company. Her work as Director of ACT Roxbury was profiled in several publications, including The Creative Communities Builders Handbook. Candelaria’s children’s stories, short stories, essays and reviews have been published in local and national publications and she is an active blogger. Her publications include the booklets, Handling Rejection; Pushing through Shyness: Networking Tips when You’re Shy, Slow to Warm Up or Just don’t Feel you Belong; and Real Questions about Sex & Relationships for Teens: A Discussion Guide for Parents. She has served on the boards of Goddard College, Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston Foundation for Architecture, and Discover Roxbury. She is currently Chair, Designators of the Henderson Foundation.

Leave a Reply to CandelariaCancel reply

4 thoughts on “The trap of packaging

  • Lilly

    What a great reminder. The proof of the pudding is indeed in the eating. I am a good example of this, my food always looks great but tastes not so good lol. Missed your blog and have loads of posts to catch up on.

  • Candelaria

    Thanks, Lilly.  It’s so great to see you’re blogging again and to have you take the time to read my posts.
    Enjoy spring.

  • miruspeg

    Very true and thought provoking post Candelaria.
    Unfortunately the “beautiful” people in this world get the “breaks” first and the not so beautiful people have a harder road to travel.
    We need to change the way the media portrays the “beautiful” people.
    Keep up your great work my friend.