Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Birthday Celebrations

Why do we celebrate birthdays? We do not celebrate graduation days, marriage days, or death days. What is so special about ones day of birth?

For some occasions, such as marriages, we celebrate the anniversary of the date of the occasion, but not the date itself. Therefore, we celebrate marriage anniversaries (such as the 20th marriage anniversary), not marriage days. If anything, we should celebrate the anniversary of our day of birth (such as the 25th birth anniversary). Of course that would mean we would have to admit our ages, and some would probably balk at that. The month and day of their birth they want everyone to know (so as to increase their chances of receiving gifts), but they protect the year of their birth as though it was vital to national security. This birth year secrecy has been practiced for centuries, not just because of recent concerns about identity theft.

I assume that as a child I thought birthdays were special, but, at an early point in life (around 10 years of age) I began to question the purpose of birthdays and saw no point in them. I still do not.

No comments:

Post a Comment