Gifts bring us closer together

This story of money has fundamentally changed the interactions we have now and the language we use. We have become so transactional in the way we operate. Author Lewis Hyde has pointed out in The Gift that communities were built on gift-giving for thousands of years. When we gave our neighbor a gift, there was an imbalance; as a result, these interactions brought the community closer together. Since money wasn’t around, you needed to pay back your neighbor somehow. Money, on the other hand, drives us apart. Money transfers value away from communities to the central bank. When we pay for something, we are done. No one owes anyone anything. There is a price for a good or service; you spend it, and the deal is done. There is no need to check back in afterward.