It’s that day of the year again when you get treated like a special prince/ princess by your peers amidst joyful wishes and prayers for your long life and happiness! It’s your HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
What could be better on such a special day for such a special person as you than to have the night of your life with all your near and dear ones celebrating one whole year of radiant joy and looking forward to another blissful year? Possibly a bottle of Vodka and some snacks? (Just kidding…)
Well, I personally love to have my birthdays celebrated among loads of people- the more the merrier I say! But, come to think of it this way, what’s the use of having such grand celebrations hosted, shouldering the trouble of inviting everyone, having everything set and tidied if the venue is your home and if not then preparing yourself to fill out an insanely huge hotel bill and finally getting back home to just slump in your bed and muster some energy for your usual and tearfully hectic day on the morrow? If you are the introvert type who prefers to keep it small and silent, do you not think it is now time to experience some changes?
The realm of this modern century is in the hands of the inevitable and rather ubiquitous social networking media so that being classy is the latest trend. And as obvious as it sounds, being classy comes at an exceptionally heavy cost. Let me put things straight- since the human nature is to be brutally critical and judgmental about everything other people do (we all like to say we’re an exception to this rule but well…here we are!) we like to make sure that all our celebrations especially those as notable as our birthdays are picture perfect and “upload worthy”. Most of us find ourselves being so particular about every small detail just so we can show the world how very special we are! What a paradox it is that the virtual reality has so influenced us that our happiness has ended up becoming virtual!
Now here is the million dollar question- Do you really want to celebrate your birthday like that? Do you not think burdening yourself and your loved ones with the load of heavy bill and super hard work just so you can have a nice birthday isn’t exactly how you can be happy IN REALITY? Don’t you think your hard earned money would find better purpose than they do in all those over priced meals that you pay for at those expensive and overrated restaurants? The real happiness- the kind of happiness that stays with you in your mind and memories long after your body has worn down with the fatigue of celebrations is in GIVING.
But hey! It’s your birthday and you’re supposed to be getting not giving!! But hey again, isn’t happiness something that grows as much as you give? (Got you there!) That’s exactly what I am trying to imply. Going out to those poverty-ridden villages where children hardly even know what birthdays are let alone the fact that they are meant to be celebrated; and cutting cakes, eating self-prepared goodies with them is far more satisfying, don’t you think? I mean, around here we have so much cake that we go around plastering the birthday boy’s and girl’s face in cake, but there, you’ll be lucky to find a small pastry and I’ll bet you a million dollars (not that I have as much but…well…you get the point) that if you do, you will see it end up straight in their stomach- every tiny bit of it.
So why not spare your birthday bucks (or dollars or rupees or cents or anything) and put it into good use making your special day memorable not just for you alone but for so many others? I’ll bet you another million dollars (well…in my defense, I like assuming stuff) that you will remember this birthday, their delight when they savor the delicacies that might be so basic for you with relish, your joy when you get surrounded by the chatters of kids more excited for your birthday than you, that thrill of blowing out the candles with a happy heart and finally handing out the gifts to the ones who’ll truly appreciate its value. Is all this not worth leaving behind for once all the other things you would normally do on your special day?
This Birthday, make their day as special as yours!
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