We Should Stop Minimizing Birthdays

I had an interesting experience last week.  As part of my position working for the BYU Police, I am required to work Special Events on occasion.  I received an email from the Events Coordinator, asking if I would be available to work the BYU Spectacular the coming Thursday and Friday.  I informed him that I could not work the event on Friday, as it was my birthday, and my girlfriend was planning something special for me.  He responded, to my utter surprise, with a single word: "Lame!"

I was more than a little confused.  Was I being silly for not wanting to work on my birthday?  Was I possibly being selfish?  Was I wrong and entitled for wanting my birthday to be special?

So I asked my roommate, Brady, about it.



After a healthy discussion, I came to the following conclusion (with his help): Society should quit minimizing birthdays.

Let's analyze this it a little.  What is a birthday?

Is it cake? Ice cream?  Presents?  Free Red Robin burgers? (Which, if you haven't signed up for the Red Robin birthday burger, I highly recommend doing it on their website).

Well, all of those things are part of birthdays, but they aren't the essence of what a birthday is.
A birthday, legally, is the day someone came forth from the womb into an existence on this place we call Earth.
But it is also a celebration of YOU.

In our society, there is plenty to bring us down.  Feel less about ourselves.  Discourage, dishearten, and dismay us.  There are messages that tell us that we are not enough.  I have always liked the phrase, taught to me by my mission president, President Budge: "People need  less critics, and more cheerleaders."

So what is a birthday?  It is the one day a year that is for you.  You only get one day a BLASTED YEAR! That's one three-hundred and sixty-fifth of the days available, and you only get one.  You only get one day set apart to be recognized, to feel special.  WHY ARE WE MINIMIZING THAT?

Some people act like this is a bad thing.  Heaven forbid we make someone feel special once a year!  Heaven forbid that once, out of 365 days, we are cheerleaders for an individual, rather than critics, and build them up, and celebrate their existence!

Some families "don't do birthdays".  I think that's just sad.  Now, I understand that people have differing financial situations, and let me make myself clear, I am not suggesting that people deserve presents.  Yes, presents are nice, but definitely not necessary.  What I am saying, is people deserve a special day. People deserve to feel special, and that is what birthdays are truly about.

Growing up, my family didn't have a whole lot of extra cash on hand.  My parents never spent a whole lot of money on presents, but that was fine.  I don't remember the presents, but I do remember how my mom made me feel on my birthday. My mom was always praising me, but she praised me especially on my birthday.  She would always make me a "birthday dinner", which, when I think about it, wasn't actually much more special than any other dinner, but it felt different, because it was dedicated to me.  We would usually got to a museum together, because my mom and I both love museums, and we would talk and grow closer together.  That's what always made my birthdays so special.

A lot of people have this idea that when you become an adult, you shouldn't celebrate birthdays, as if making birthdays special was "childish" or something.  I disagree.  People are special, every individual is a special person, so everyone deserves a special day. Because when we minimize birthdays, and say "birthdays don't matter", what message are we really sending?  We are saying "people don't matter", we are saying "you, and your special day, doesn't matter", and "you don't deserve to be celebrated".

If I was an employer, I would give every employee the day off on their birthday.  Shoot, I would give people the day off on their spouse's birthday!  If their birthday fell on a Saturday or Sunday, I would give them Friday off.  Because, like I've said so many times, everyone deserves a special day. People deserve to be celebrated!

So let's try to make a change.  If you're an employer, consider making your employee's birthdays a little more special. If you have coworkers, consider making their birthdays a little more special.  If you're a husband, wife, parent, sibling, son or daughter, consider making your family's birthdays more special.  I can promise, you won't regret it.  Nothing bad will come of it. It will only spread happiness.

Call me crazy.  Disagree.  I don't care.  That's just my two cents.