What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet
-William S.
What’s in a day? That which we call a birthday, by any other name would still mean the same thing: the day when, as a red-faced, screaming bundle of pure nasty (and of course, joy), we entered this world. Some of us have become noticeably quieter now, while others find our oldest habits are usually the hardest to quit.
Happy Birthday!
Some of you might be wondering how my birthday just seemed to pop up out of nowhere. That’s because it did—I just put it up on my profile just now so I could get you all to come to my profile and then click the link to this post. Thanks for being such willing subjects.
Thanks to Facebook, gone are the days when frienships depended on the Rolodex, the huge desk calendar, the “I just called to say hey”s, invitations on card, cards on birthday, and of course, that ol’ birthday phone call. But one thing hasn’t changed and that’s all the planning, the buying, and the gift-giving that close friends of the “birthday person” feel they just have to do. And if for some reason, such as the case of this lonely post-grad, the friends of the birthday person aren’t really around, well it all just clumps together into one dead skunk of guilt in the road. The stink sort of lingers around for a few days and eventually everyone in the neighborhood tries to just get used to it and go about their business. Eventually some self-starter just goes and shovels the dumb thing up and everyone just forgets about it…at least until the next Pepe Le Pew decides the grass looks greener—from the middle of the road. I didn’t want my birthday to be any such skunk.
Besides that, I honestly don’t see what the fuss should be about. It seems like a lot of famous people have died this summer. Some would say not enough, because the likes of Paris Hilton still walk the street (corners?) of America. For example, Michael Jackson’s birthday was yesterday. In spite of all the good he did, the makers of Propofol have gotten more free publicity than anything that could have been placed in the King Midas-styled dreams of those AstraZeneca execs. And that’s sad, especially when you consider all of what MJ did with large parts of his wealth. It was his demons that eventually destroyed him and that’s all we hear about now.
Now in seeming contrast we have Ted Kennedy, a man who drank heavily for years, built himself up a reputation as womanizer—and this was all after that time he fled the scene of his accident at Chappaquiddick, which resulted in the drowning death of his female passenger. In spite of all this, he’s fondly remembered by members of both parties, as someone who’s life balance at the end was positive. And I should add, his mark on the world was only as genuine as the motivations of his heart. His noble actions that escalated in prominence later in life appear to have in large part, made up for his “mess-ups” earlier in life, at least in the eyes of society. His is a story of redemption, of the hope that we all have, that in some ways we can learn from the mistakes we’ve made, and in some ways we can look to improve. And most of all, we can look to God for forgiveness, in a way that acknowledges that there’s nothing really that we can do, as imperfect people, to gain acceptance by a perfect Creator. Senator Kennedy believed he found his peace with God, remaining as faithful as he could till the end, when he was left without the mental and physical capabilities to really “do” many of the rituals in which we ourselves so often take comfort. At the end, all he had was his faith and a life hopefully changed by it, and only it.
Senator Kennedy was given a long life to change how he lived it. We can’t always expect to have that privilege. So start now. Stand back, divide your life so far into the people and events that made you more of who you eventually want to be, and that which made you less of who you want to be. Plan every action from here on out according to that—is what you’re doing going to make you more of who you want to be, or less so. Don’t get too hard on yourself if you mess up; it’s always called the path to redemption, not the light switch. I myself have tried to get away from who I used to be—the self-centered, conniving, lion-in-sheep’s clothing that I really was. It’s a daily battle to keep from falling back into all that but I keep trying in spite of the mess-ups.
The bottom line is to aim to begin every moment with the end-goal in mind. Is your life more or less a cycle of pleasure gain, pleasure fade, with a few bathroom breaks in between? Or is every moment a dart aimed at the bulls-eye of your life; and is that where you find pleasure? And before your head hits the pillow tonight, make sure you’ve found peace with God—some way to know beyond any annoying doubt as to where you will find yourself after your life is but a collectively-fading memory. If you’re an atheist, logically reason your material butt into that foxhole already and maybe admit (even if it’s just to yourself) that there might at least be some things beyond what we can sense with our oh-so-attuned five senses. Like for example, why anyone should ever love another human being any more than the next lump of carbon and water. Speaking of love, take some time to spend with each other and stop putting so much value on money. Our inflation-driven economy doesn’t seem to care much about the value of our currency, so why should you? They say time is money. But our time, being finite, is of infinite more value than money.
Anyway, I thank you all for the time you’ve taken to read this note. This post was more for me than anyone else. If I ever get too smug to listen to others, hopefully I’ll at least listen to myself. And if, by now, you’ve wasted way too much time to leave me the default “Happy Birthday Jasen”—consider it done. When I think I’ve done enough with my life to throw a birthday party, to make this day more special than any other day to which I’m privileged to wake up, you’ll all be invited. Though chances are someone will have to do that for me, because I hope I’ll be gone before I start thinking that highly of myself. And if by some chance I’m not, would someone please tell me to shut up?…Same thing if I start turning into one of those God-forsaken “blog people.”
Comments are required. Be as anonymous as you want…who cares if someone laughs at your post? You’re anonymous!
