Toast to Those Who Were Born Today
BY CANSU ORANÇ (PSYC/IV)
oranc@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
Today is my birthday! I'm actually writing this one week ahead but I already have the enthusiasm. Why is today, and every December 28 in every year, different to me? On this specific date, why do people think that I'm special or at least behave that way? What makes birthdays special? Why do we want to feel special on that specific day among the other 364?
To answer this question of "speciality" of birthdays, I went on Google Scholar and EBSCO but was disappointed. Despite many sources talking about the origins of birthday celebrations, there weren't many explaining why we need to feel special on our birthdays. Apparently, there is not much research on this "special" topic. According to some non-scholarly Internet resources, people since ancient times celebrated birthdays. The point was to protect the birthday girl/boy from demons and other evil powers for another year. I don't think this is the point anymore, so I decided to think some possible reasons of why birthdays are special, and share them with you.
To celebrate that we survived one more year! I know everybody's life is difficult, but it feels harder if you're a college student. It may be that we feel special since we have survived one more year since the previous one. It may be that people give us presents and sing songs to say, "Way to go girl! You can make it through another year, yeah!" When you think about the analogy that says life is a competition, this makes even more sense. We need a boost in our lives! Our birthdays give us this.
No one is special in reality (except me, for today). As human beings, we need some deception about this. Maybe if we feel special at least once in a year, our world can be a better place.
Self-realization. Our birthdays may give us a self-awareness. It's like looking at the mirror or doing yoga but more fun. Why not self-realize partying and receiving presents?
The answer might lie under Dr. Seuss's wise words, whom I will talk about in my next column. "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive, who is youer than you!"
Happy Birthday everyone.