Happy Birthday, Jestor :-)

Happy Birthday Jestor!
really appreciate you bro

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag - auf dass Du weiterhin hier die Bude zusammenhältst!!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Jestor!

Here's a pic of the birthday boy as a kid

Happy Birthday buddy

Thank you everyone....

I usually just keep it on the down-low... It was just another day....

I still go to work, and I still have things to do..

But, thank you for taking a few minutes to say something...

It may just be another day to you, but I hope it was a splendid Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Jestor wrote: Thank you everyone....

I usually just keep it on the down-low... It was just another day....

I still go to work, and I still have things to do..

But, thank you for taking a few minutes to say something...

Our birthdays may be just dates on a calendar, or just another day days ... there is an element of truth in that. Sure, we all just go to work like any other day, there is still weather and traffic, bills and taxes and all .... and people remember and people forget ... so, right -- "just another day". Naturally ... :whistle:

But ...

... we're pretty short-sighted if we say "my birthday doesn't matter". That is such wildly smelly horse-poo. It does ...

First of all, our birthdays aren't about "us". It isn't an occasion to be the star for the day or harvest a bunch of presents. Our birthdays are more a celebration for the ones who know and love us than for ourselves.

Remember, it has not been such a very long time since the average life-span of a man was something that by today's standards we would consider ridiculously short -- 42 years. And yes, I'm talking about the 20th century here ... not the Middle Ages. There were all sorts of things that would do us in right nastily : diseases that we now have over-the-counter pharmaceuticals to prevent/cure. Hygiene, fitness and dietary prudence, as well as a more comprehensive medical science when intervention is necessary have come a long way. Why all the hype about Alzheimer's nowadays ? Because 50 years ago, fewer people were living long enough for it to have been a problem ... :S

My point is merely this : we've gotten used to our longer life-spans now in the same time as our core societal values have shifted from the community to the "self". Not a good combination that ! Celebrating birthdays - not that it is a particular holiday in and of itself - is the occasion when friends and loved ones show appreciation for the simple fact that we're still here.

We are living longer now, but that doesn't quite erase all the alias of life. There are still some illnesses, there are accidents and stupidity, there are criminal acts ... in short, there are still a lot of things that can - and do - do us in. So, for as long as it remains that people die, we ought to celebrate that those whose lives matter to us are still here. Just another day, sure ... but since showing the people who matter to us that they matter doesn't happen on many other days, having one day per year that we remember to do that is - in my opinion - a good thing.