Why do we celebrate birthdays? What is it that we are proud of? Is it because we survived another year? Are we marking the progress we have made, our overall achievements? Is it a sign of expression of a new hope for us to live for another year?
None would matter maybe..
If it is the past year that we are commemorating, would we still drink to it if we have some bad news about our health? Not likely. But why? What is the relevance of information about the future (our own upcoming death) when it is the past that we are celebrating? We cannot change the past. No future event can vitiate the fact that we got it through another 12 months of struggle. Then why not celebrate this fact?
Because what we focus on is not the past. It is about our future, not of the past. We are observing having gone so far because such outlook in life allows us to continue forward. We proclaim our potential to enjoy all what life has to offer. Birthdays are reflections of unbridled, blind faith in our own suspended mortality.
But if this holds true, surely we have less and less to celebrate as we grow older. What reason do octogenarians have to drink to one more year if that gift is not easily guaranteed? Life offers diminishing returns: the longer you are invested, the less likely you are to reap the dividenda of survival, life insurance for example. So, based on actuary tables, it becomes increasingly less rational to celeberate as we grow older.
Therefore, we are driven into the conclusion self-delusionally defying death are what birthday meant. Preserving the illusion of immortality are what birthdays mean. Birthdays are forms of acting out our creative thinking. By celebrating our existence, we give ourselves protective charms against the nonsense and arbitrariness of a impersonal, cruel, cold, and and most often a universe bombarded with hostility.
And most of the time, it works. Have a no prescription - Happy birthday!
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