Responsibility to a gifted material calls for beautiful, worthy creative work

Evidence

Once the eight spokes of the framework are twined into place with the thinnest possible strips, each basket begins to grow. We look to John for the next set of instructions, but there are none. He says, “You’re on your own now. The design of the basket is up to you. No one can tell you what to create.” We have thick and thin splints to work with, and John shakes out a bag full of brightly dyed splints in every color. The tangled pile looks like the singing ribbons on the men’s ribbon shirts in the evening powwows. “Just think of the tree and all its hard work before you start,” he says. “It gave its life for this basket, so you know your responsibility. Make something beautiful in return.” — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 530

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: ‘It gave its life for this basket, so you know your responsibility. Make something beautiful in return’ is a pure statement of the gratitude/offering ethic the sacrifice essay elaborates.
• XREF: connects to: Woman is prized as yielding material that resists mastery enough to remain precious — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 376; Gift recognition must pair with responsibility for true reciprocity — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1274; Realizing one’s unique image is a moral duty — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 2895

Broader Connections

• Gift recognition must pair with responsibility for true reciprocity #expands (0.80) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1274
• Realizing one’s unique image is a moral duty #expands (0.80) — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 2895
• Woman is prized as yielding material that resists mastery enough to remain precious #expands (0.72) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 376