A VERY special day....

I think its okay to be a little self-indulgent on one's birthday. Right? I mean in our society we were raised to celebrate this day as ‘our’ day. What with parents running to toy stores since the very beginning, theme birthday parties and gift (or goody) bags for every kid we wanted or felt obligated to invite. Even cakes to suit our fav and very fickle obsessions of the time, or even (and more creepily) cakes adorned with our own picture were used to encourage us to see how very special we are. I remember having a ballet stage cake, a castle (my mom made on her own-which was awesome), the yummy cheesecakes my parents make for me every year now, and even last years cake from my bestest friends and family that featured an early years picture of Jason Priestly from 90210. It was an inside joke on age 22---erm…never mind.

In old country, as my Baba often says, it was customary to take other people out on ones birthday. My Korean students (more so: overseas businessmen in the process of learning English) tell me the same thing, that—and they like to get drunk on ‘their’ day. But I think I like the way we, over here, support the creation of pseudo-narcissists by having it truly be ‘their day’ Of course, that also leads many a children and even older people to scream out the cliché, ‘It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.’ And why not, after all, that also seems to be a part of ‘feeling special.’ With so much hype our birthdays are bound to disappoint us at some point—at an exponential rate the older we get, no doubt. Whether it is when an annoying little girl tattletales on you saying shut up to her while you are all bowling, or when your friends are late for the time they made the reservation, or just if the freaking weather gets all emo and rainy on you (like today!) it will happen.

So back to the self obsession aspect of this day. The very origins of these sorts of celebrations is said to date back to ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Persia—where they celebrated the anniversaries of the births of ‘gods,’ kings, and nobles. This in itself surmises the very essence of a “birthday.” We are making ourselves above others for at least one day a year; a day in which we are the nobles, the little princess, and the one who receives gifts, cake, and best regards. ATTENTION, essentially! A type of extreme attention that we are not accustomed to asking for in our world that is obsessed with a false sense of frenzied importance, phoney modesty, and fervent self deprecation.

So once a year, let’s be annoying and listen to songs like “She’s so high”, by Tal Bachman and pretend we are the center of at least the little part of the world we inhabit. I mean, not that I do, but if I did….it would not be my fault. Blame the ancients.

Happy Birthday to ME. :D