Why do we celebrate birthdays? What is it that we are proud of? Is it because of another year that had passed and we survived it? Are we taking notes of our progress, our victories and triumphs? Is it a sign of new hope sprung eternal to live another year?
None of the above, it would seem.
If we are remembering the past year, would we still drink to it if we know we are going to die soon? 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? The past is immutable. No future event can spoil the fact that we have made it through another 12 months of struggle. Then why not celebrate this fact?
Because what we focus on is not the past. Our birthdays are about the future, not about the past. We are celebrating having gone so far because such outlook in life allows us to live forward. We’re proud of our potentials to enjoy life. Birthdays are reflections of unrestrained, blind faith in our own suspended mortality.
But, if this were true, surely as we grow older we have less and less cause to celebrate. What are the reasons do septuagenarians have to drink to one more year if that gift is far from guaranteed? Life provides diminishing returns: the longer you invest, the less you take the marginal dividends of the fruits of your labor, like life insurance. Indeed, based on actuarial science, it becomes increasingly less rational to celebrate one’s future the older one gets.
Thus, we are driven into the conclusion that birthdays are about self-delusionally defying death. Birthdays are about preserving the illusion of immortality. Birthdays are forms of acting out our creative thinking. By celebrating our existence, we bestow on ourselves protective charms against the nonsense and whimsical nature of a cold, impersonal, and and most often a universe bombarded with hostility.
And, more often than not, it works. Have a no prescription - Happy birthday!
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