ON CELEBRATING BIRTHDAYS

My young friend from Turkey recently celebrated his birthday on Christmas Eve (how old is he now. . . 38?) for the first time ever! The first time? He said his parents didn't even know when they were born (they live in a small village in Anatolia) and you realize, the calendars were different back then so when would you celebrate your birthday? Just before the harvest? I think, he went on, we couldn't really celebrate anything where the individual was the center of the celebration. . . The evil eye? I asked. . . No, he answered thoughtfully, just not celebrating the self. In fact, he said, I often wonder why Westerners celebrate birthdays . . . (He wasn't asking me, but I told him anyway.) To celebrate life, I said; to celebrate survival, that we're still here, that we made it another year, that we love and value eachother! Happy Birthday, my friend.