Why do we celebrate birthdays? What is it that we are toasting? Is it the fact that we have survived another year against many odds? Are we tinkering about our progress we have gone through, our victories and triumphs? Is that symbolizes a new hope sprung eternal to live another year?

None would matter maybe..

If we are commemorating the year that passed, would we still drink to it if we have some bad news about our health? Not likely, but why? How is the future relevant (our own eventful death) when one is celebrating the past? We cannot change the past. No future event can vitiate the fact that we have made it through another 12 months of struggle. Then why not celebrate this fact?

Because what we focus on is not the past. It is about our future, not about the past. We are celebrating having gone so far because such outlook in life allows us to move forward. We proclaim our potential to enjoy life. Birthdays are expressions of exuberant, blind faith in our own suspended mortality.

But, if this were true, definitely we have less and less to celebrate as we grow older. What are the reasons do septuagenarians have to drink to one more year if that gift is far from guaranteed? Life provides diminishing returns: the longer you are invested, the less likely you are to reap the dividenda of survival, life insurance for example. So, based on actuarial science, it becomes increasingly less rational to celeberate as we grow older.

Thus, we are driven into the conclusion self-delusionally defying death are what birthday meant. Birthdays are about preserving the illusion of immortality. Birthdays are forms of acting out our creative thinking. By celebrating our existence, we give ourselves protective charms against the meaninglessness and whimsical nature of a impersonal, cruel, cold, and often hostile universe.

And, more often than not, it works. Have a no prescription - Happy birthday!

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