Personal Holiday

There are too many holidays in any given country or religion though they are not celebrated or observed by everyone who is eligible to do so. There is one day, however, that holds a special connotation and is celebrated by everyone: a birthday. The reasons people have to commemorate such day seem to be somewhat misguided. People tend to mark such day as a special day that represents life. That is to say, the life that has passed. On such day, one celebrates that one is becoming older and presumably more mature without noticing that there is not any real reason to celebrate such event. One is unknowingly merely rejoicing in the ignored truth that death is nearer. At the same time, one is celebrating one more year of life, one also celebrates one has one less year to live. There is a need to celebrate that one is still alive, which is wrongfully celebrated as having lived one more year by adding one more candle to the cake; and, delighting in the knowledge that has been acquired. But it should be celebrated with an emphasis on the year that begins and lays ahead full of opportunities and lessons to be learned.
Birthdays become the biggest holiday in each individual’s lives. As such, they doubtlessly create great expectations at any given year. There is always something to be desired that day. The first one, the day one is actually born, has the obvious expectation that the new addition to the family will be a healthy and to become a remarkable person. Then, people anticipate the first birthday to be celebrated with fanfare. Later, the second is expected to exceed the first. But as time goes by, the expectations switch from the people around to the child. As children grow older, they begin to aspire to better birthday parties to which they can invite their friends. They look forward to a cake, gifts, games, etc. if such expectations are not met, there is disappointment. Eventually, however, the disappointment is surpassed because one reaches an age when the expectations change from birthday parties to attain other purposes. First, one yearns to be sixteen in order to acquire a driver’s license. Later, one wants to be seventeen in order to be able to view r-rated movies at the theater without needing parents present. The magic eighteen is next: finally one is able to have access to nightclubs, and achieve a certain freedom. Then, leave to college. Finally, one awaits turning twenty-one in order to be able to legally drink. But these are all trivial aspirations. When they reach an end, one begins to have other types of expectations that become goals to accomplish.
One reaches an understanding that when one was so young, one was prevented from realizing the true meaning of the celebrations one had as a child. The details escaped the young mind. As an adult, one comprehends slightly more of what those parties represented. They were simply a way to show one’s social status; first for one’s parents, then unconsciously for oneself. The gifts received were only a way to fulfill one’s caprices. Finally, a cake with the candles as a reminder of how old one is becoming. All of which are superficial details. However, through those details one completely misses the fact that a birthday does not only mean one more year of life is starting and there is so much to be lived and experience. A birthday also symbolizes the end of a year one has already lived. It means one has less time to live. The focus of a birthday is the celebration of life, but there also needs to be a certain awareness of the time that has passed and one will not be able to recuperate. That is not to say one should dwell on the past and what one did and did not do, but on what one can do with the now accumulated knowledge.
At the sunset of one’s life, every birthday festivity will only revive memories of satisfying days full of enjoyment. But the true fulfillment will only come from having achieved every goal and having materialized every wish one had when blowing out the candles on every cake one had in the past. A birthday does not simply mark the end of a year one would hope left great memories but most importantly it is also the first day of the rest of one’s life; treat it as such.Personal Holiday
There are too many holidays in any given country or religion though they are not celebrated or observed by everyone who is eligible to do so. There is one day, however, that holds a special connotation and is celebrated by everyone: a birthday. The reasons people have to commemorate such day seem to be somewhat misguided. People tend to mark such day as a special day that represents life. That is to say, the life that has passed. On such day, one celebrates that one is becoming older and presumably more mature without noticing that there is not any real reason to celebrate such event. One is unknowingly merely rejoicing in the ignored truth that death is nearer. At the same time, one is celebrating one more year of life, one also celebrates one has one less year to live. There is a need to celebrate that one is still alive, which is wrongfully celebrated as having lived one more year by adding one more candle to the cake; and, delighting in the knowledge that has been acquired. But it should be celebrated with an emphasis on the year that begins and lays ahead full of opportunities and lessons to be learned.
Birthdays become the biggest holiday in each individual’s lives. As such, they doubtlessly create great expectations at any given year. There is always something to be desired that day. The first one, the day one is actually born, has the obvious expectation that the new addition to the family will be a healthy and to become a remarkable person. Then, people anticipate the first birthday to be celebrated with fanfare. Later, the second is expected to exceed the first. But as time goes by, the expectations switch from the people around to the child. As children grow older, they begin to aspire to better birthday parties to which they can invite their friends. They look forward to a cake, gifts, games, etc. if such expectations are not met, there is disappointment. Eventually, however, the disappointment is surpassed because one reaches an age when the expectations change from birthday parties to attain other purposes. First, one yearns to be sixteen in order to acquire a driver’s license. Later, one wants to be seventeen in order to be able to view r-rated movies at the theater without needing parents present. The magic eighteen is next: finally one is able to have access to nightclubs, and achieve a certain freedom. Then, leave to college. Finally, one awaits turning twenty-one in order to be able to legally drink. But these are all trivial aspirations. When they reach an end, one begins to have other types of expectations that become goals to accomplish.
One reaches an understanding that when one was so young, one was prevented from realizing the true meaning of the celebrations one had as a child. The details escaped the young mind. As an adult, one comprehends slightly more of what those parties represented. They were simply a way to show one’s social status; first for one’s parents, then unconsciously for oneself. The gifts received were only a way to fulfill one’s caprices. Finally, a cake with the candles as a reminder of how old one is becoming. All of which are superficial details. However, through those details one completely misses the fact that a birthday does not only mean one more year of life is starting and there is so much to be lived and experience. A birthday also symbolizes the end of a year one has already lived. It means one has less time to live. The focus of a birthday is the celebration of life, but there also needs to be a certain awareness of the time that has passed and one will not be able to recuperate. That is not to say one should dwell on the past and what one did and did not do, but on what one can do with the now accumulated knowledge.
At the sunset of one’s life, every birthday festivity will only revive memories of satisfying days full of enjoyment. But the true fulfillment will only come from having achieved every goal and having materialized every wish one had when blowing out the candles on every cake one had in the past. A birthday does not simply mark the end of a year one would hope left great memories but most importantly it is also the first day of the rest of one’s life; treat it as such.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


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