So Today's Your Birthday
Hooray! It's your special day, the anniversary of your birth. Celebrate this special event and let it take many forms: cake, ice cream, candles, gifts, the dog vomiting on your toes. These are all possible if you play your cards right. (Keep the dog away from the cake, ice cream, candles, gifts, and toes.) Don't forget to thank Mom!
Say, I like you. And not just because we share something big in common, us having both been born. I have a present for you, a thoughtful sentiment that comes by way of a greeting card from a grocery store in the 1970s, from the frozen meat aisle. (Products were displayed differently back then.) Here it is. Ready?
“Birthday's are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.”
So true, isn't it? Hee hee!
It's wonderful to know how long you've been here and to contemplate how your life has affected others. How much you've helped others and learned from them. How much they've helped you and learned from you. Sure, there are some mistakes in there, but you did the best you could with what you knew at the time. Remember how much you learned from the experience? Give yourself a pat on the back. And look at you now, a whole day older and knowinger than you were yesterday.
Come to think of it, if we didn't count up from the day were were born, there are two other ways: counting down or not counting at all. What would that be like?
If birthdays were a count-down instead of a count-up, being 10-years-old would mean, not that 10 years have passed since birth, but that there are 10 years until death. Next year you'd celebrate 9, then 8, 7... You see where this is headed. How would we figure how much time there's left? Plus, despite the excitement of a count-down and the inevitable blast-off, I think we'd all miss the surprise ending.
Then there's ignoring birthdays altogether. Some cultures do this. Sad cultures. If you were brought up on National Geographic like I was, you've read about these cultures, you turned the page and saw that photo of a gnarled old woman in the jungle. You whisper appreciatively, "Wow, that person must be 120 years old!" You thoughtfully read the accompanying caption, which goes something like:
"In the ancient Empalli culture of eastern Blatt, natives refrain from tracking time since birth, believing it to be bad luck. Instead, the community's sense of time comes from tribal knowledge handed down by wise village elders, such as the woman pictured here."
Moved, you ponder, Why, this woman was born before the discovery of the lightbulb, flight, and band-aids. You continue reading, "Scientists estimate that she is between 30 and 35 years old."
Yikes! Maybe if she knew her age she'd know how much living she still had in her. Plus, maybe getting a little attention on her birthday might have kept her young.
No, I think the way we do this birthday thing is the funnest, don't you?
Remember when you were a little tyke who just couldn't wait to be older? Now look at you—you're living your dream. Happy birthday!
(If you feel differently about being only a day older than you were yesterday, repeat the Thoughtful Sentiment, out loud or silently, until you can feel it. There, you're cured.)
Say, I like you. And not just because we share something big in common, us having both been born. I have a present for you, a thoughtful sentiment that comes by way of a greeting card from a grocery store in the 1970s, from the frozen meat aisle. (Products were displayed differently back then.) Here it is. Ready?
“Birthday's are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.”
So true, isn't it? Hee hee!
It's wonderful to know how long you've been here and to contemplate how your life has affected others. How much you've helped others and learned from them. How much they've helped you and learned from you. Sure, there are some mistakes in there, but you did the best you could with what you knew at the time. Remember how much you learned from the experience? Give yourself a pat on the back. And look at you now, a whole day older and knowinger than you were yesterday.
Come to think of it, if we didn't count up from the day were were born, there are two other ways: counting down or not counting at all. What would that be like?
If birthdays were a count-down instead of a count-up, being 10-years-old would mean, not that 10 years have passed since birth, but that there are 10 years until death. Next year you'd celebrate 9, then 8, 7... You see where this is headed. How would we figure how much time there's left? Plus, despite the excitement of a count-down and the inevitable blast-off, I think we'd all miss the surprise ending.
Then there's ignoring birthdays altogether. Some cultures do this. Sad cultures. If you were brought up on National Geographic like I was, you've read about these cultures, you turned the page and saw that photo of a gnarled old woman in the jungle. You whisper appreciatively, "Wow, that person must be 120 years old!" You thoughtfully read the accompanying caption, which goes something like:
"In the ancient Empalli culture of eastern Blatt, natives refrain from tracking time since birth, believing it to be bad luck. Instead, the community's sense of time comes from tribal knowledge handed down by wise village elders, such as the woman pictured here."
Moved, you ponder, Why, this woman was born before the discovery of the lightbulb, flight, and band-aids. You continue reading, "Scientists estimate that she is between 30 and 35 years old."
Yikes! Maybe if she knew her age she'd know how much living she still had in her. Plus, maybe getting a little attention on her birthday might have kept her young.
No, I think the way we do this birthday thing is the funnest, don't you?
Remember when you were a little tyke who just couldn't wait to be older? Now look at you—you're living your dream. Happy birthday!
(If you feel differently about being only a day older than you were yesterday, repeat the Thoughtful Sentiment, out loud or silently, until you can feel it. There, you're cured.)
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