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 that symbolizes a new hope sprung eternal to live another year?
None would matter maybe..
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? How is the future relevant (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 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 move forward. We proclaim our potential to enjoy life. Birthdays are constructions of exuberant, blind faith in our own suspended mortality.
But if this holds 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 not easily 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 celeberate as we grow older.
Hence, we are forced into the conclusion that birthdays are about self-delusionally defying death. Preserving the illusion of immortality are what birthdays mean. Birthdays are forms of acting out our magical thinking. By celebrating our existence, we bestow on ourselves protective charms against the nonsense and whimsical nature of a impersonal, cruel, cold, and and most often a universe bombarded with hostility.
And it works most of the time. Have a no prescription - Happy birthday!
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