Dear Friends,
It is 5 days until I become a year older. I have been
laughing at the fact that I have been counting this down like counting down the
days until Christmas. I am excited for celebrating my birthday this year but
also mentally preparing for my 35th birthday next year. Since I am in the mood
for speaking about this, I have been wondering: what is the fascination with
humans and anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, and even the day someone dies. I
ask this because that's something that boggles my mind. We celebrate anything
but especially when someone passes away. So as I get excited to celebrate my
birthday, I also want to why we celebrate even the anniversary of someone's
death.
First, I want people to know that I am not being insensitive
about people celebrating someone's death. My great aunt died on my mother's
birthday. So it is easy to celebrate my mother's birthday but we also remember
that my great aunt's passing. However, some people take this too far with
shirts and hats. I do know people that have gone to even having made videos of
loved ones funerals. I think this is a bit of overkill. I remember but I don't
go to the extreme of having shirts made or having videos made. Death is suppose
to be done with a bit of decorum. Life is supposed to be lived to the fullest. The
new thing is: YOLO. That is you only live once. Birthdays are things celebrated
once a year. I am learning to do it more.
Something I have seen on the news and read on the net is
that we constantly have to remember tragedies. Tragedies are supposed to be
treated like when someone dies, with decorum. However, we live in a world where
the news over hype tragedies and the people it affects. I am happy to never
experience something catastrophic like 9/11 or losing someone in accident or
fire. I do grieve but I am not going to make a huge deal of death. I definitely
don't want to constantly celebrate or hype up something that is suppose to be
done in private.
Finally, I want to say that for years, I did not want to
celebrate being a year older. I chose to celebrate last year because I did not
want to be depressed on my birthday. I said my ex was not going to let me be
depressed and did a good job of it. We had fun and we both had one night free
from stress and drama. The last time I had something like that was back in 2007.
I celebrated it alone at first but had people over to help celebrate it. I
guess there are some benefits to celebrating anniversaries and birthdays but
not when it is a death or tragedy. With that said, it is time to go but there
will be more to come. Thank you for reading.
Eugene Chandler III
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