What makes a birthday memorable?
I know -- switching gears from the morbid to the other end of the spectrum in one fell blog! Such is life.
Getting back to the subject in hand - it is a marker of sorts that helps view ones progress or lack thereof; perhaps a definitive chance to ponder what had been or what is or what could be; a time to kick back and celebrate; a chance to sell over priced sugar laden confections along with some uninspiring cards?
Yes - it is all that but then it becomes something else, in some cases anyway. Take all the religion based birthday or Jayanti celebrations - an excuse for an already apathetic public servant in some nations to declare a day of R&R - get sloshed or check out.
If I was to compare the number of such days off from country to country and actually ponder on the subject of whose birthday merits a national holiday, I think there would not be any work done in places like India or China. Not that we need Birthday as 'cause celebre' to not work but since we are on the subject...
Why you ask?
Well per capita we simply have too many stalwarts of note, who one could argue need a special day (or days - if the followers of said stalwarts bully us) of remembrance - how else is our new generation going to come to terms with what our heritage was?
After all with close to 3 Billion people between just India and China alone they better have a say on which of their dudes and dudesses need to be remembered by declaring a national holiday.
And when you consider their individual history stretching longer than the great wall itself, it is easy to see how one could find over 700 historic characters to gawk at. Split that between the two and you have a whole year to party.
Now switch your attention to the western democracies like the US - with a 300 or so year old history (before that the natives may have had their own 'days to get high' calendar but none exists now to look at) we also find several characters of note that may in today's parlance merit a holiday unto themselves. We have a share of them - but have managed to lump some former presidents into one holiday - President's Day - no special call out for each one; same with war vets - we fought too many but you don't get a special day to yourself - Veterans Day and thats it.
So for practical reasons we seem to curtail the notion of more chill time and simply urge the young generation to visit museums where these souls are immortalized or read the old fashioned book to catch up on what was.
Not sure whether this point of view has roots deep into the genetics of the people or if it is weather related or something more esoteric.
When I want to get my passport renewed I sure hope there is not a delay due to several generals or evangelists, ex-presidents or Hollywood celebs birth (or death) event causing a backlog.
Now a government deficit leading to shortage of staff I can handle!
I know -- switching gears from the morbid to the other end of the spectrum in one fell blog! Such is life.
Getting back to the subject in hand - it is a marker of sorts that helps view ones progress or lack thereof; perhaps a definitive chance to ponder what had been or what is or what could be; a time to kick back and celebrate; a chance to sell over priced sugar laden confections along with some uninspiring cards?
Yes - it is all that but then it becomes something else, in some cases anyway. Take all the religion based birthday or Jayanti celebrations - an excuse for an already apathetic public servant in some nations to declare a day of R&R - get sloshed or check out.
If I was to compare the number of such days off from country to country and actually ponder on the subject of whose birthday merits a national holiday, I think there would not be any work done in places like India or China. Not that we need Birthday as 'cause celebre' to not work but since we are on the subject...
Why you ask?
Well per capita we simply have too many stalwarts of note, who one could argue need a special day (or days - if the followers of said stalwarts bully us) of remembrance - how else is our new generation going to come to terms with what our heritage was?
After all with close to 3 Billion people between just India and China alone they better have a say on which of their dudes and dudesses need to be remembered by declaring a national holiday.
And when you consider their individual history stretching longer than the great wall itself, it is easy to see how one could find over 700 historic characters to gawk at. Split that between the two and you have a whole year to party.
Now switch your attention to the western democracies like the US - with a 300 or so year old history (before that the natives may have had their own 'days to get high' calendar but none exists now to look at) we also find several characters of note that may in today's parlance merit a holiday unto themselves. We have a share of them - but have managed to lump some former presidents into one holiday - President's Day - no special call out for each one; same with war vets - we fought too many but you don't get a special day to yourself - Veterans Day and thats it.
So for practical reasons we seem to curtail the notion of more chill time and simply urge the young generation to visit museums where these souls are immortalized or read the old fashioned book to catch up on what was.
Not sure whether this point of view has roots deep into the genetics of the people or if it is weather related or something more esoteric.
When I want to get my passport renewed I sure hope there is not a delay due to several generals or evangelists, ex-presidents or Hollywood celebs birth (or death) event causing a backlog.
Now a government deficit leading to shortage of staff I can handle!
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