Well, the level of scarring depends on how you explain things to them. If you explain that you'd rather not celebrate birthdays for, <insert reason here>, and tell them you would rather give gifts or do fun things not out of an obligation, but as a true reward, they would probably be fairly understanding and learn to appreciate your views.
At the same time, if you don't allow them to go to birthday parties for their friends and they become a social pariah, you probably aren't doing them any favors.
Its more for kids i think, to give them something to be happy about and celebrate. As you get older birthdays matter less and eventually you dont really celebrate it. My birthday celebration consist of my dad giving me 100$ and a pat on the back. Which is better than nothing.
I think people focus too much on things to have points. I don't care about why we celebrate on birthdays. I'm having fun. Isn't that enough?
Its a great reason to catch up with people and have a drink.
Plus life's worth celebrating!
It's not so much a celebration of being closer to death as it is a celebration of the anniversary you were given life :>
Plus there's only two 'holidays' I willingly celebrate at all, Birthdays and New Years so don't take one away from me!
Yeah, I was going to basically say this. Except I celebrate like every holiday! That's what they're for, to keep our lives entertaining. It seems like a weird thing to question having a reason to celebrate, especially when you're celebrating the day you entered this world.
"Dude! You survived another whole year!" Don't belittle survival.
OP might make more sense to me if we all had, say, only 65 years (guaranteed) of life. We'd know what the countdown was, we'd know how fast the sand was running through our personal hourglass. But we don't. None of us do. Some don't even make it to the labor room, some don't last a year, others last into the triple digits.
If you spend your time obsessing over your own death, likely so distant it's not even in "sight" (thus you're imagining all sorts of faces on it that suit your mood) you're not paying attention to Now, to the people around you, if people aren't your thing the alternative is that you're not paying attention to the amazing day to day realities of our existence. Your heart is still pumping. A single cell from the heart knows what it's supposed to do - that sucker will try to work solo. It's freaking amazing there are so many species of life with pumping hearts in them. We might not be around long by way of millenia, but that we've existed at all is to be noticed (at least by ourselves) and celebrated. I enjoy taking a chair and sitting outside in my backyard; my husband cannot fathom what sort of pleasure I get from listening to the wind in the trees, feeling the wind and the heat of the sun on my skin, listening to neighborhood sounds (landscaping, pets, children, chatting adults, maybe the splash of a canon ball into the pool, the jingle of my dogs' tags on their collars).
Yes, death is coming. There's nothing you can really do about it other than not do stupid things. It'll have you ... for however long you believe that lasts. In the mean time, cake, candy, sprinkles, laughter, alcohol, loud music, sex, something that's not a lack of existence.
My birthdays, I just want a dinner out with a person or three I value in my life. I don't want an expensive dinner, I'll pay for us all myself (and I have), I just want time spent out with people I care about. It's an "event" to look forward to, and it marks time and creates pleasant memories. If you're an adult, you get to choose how you want to spend your birthdays - you can mope, you can hint that you're into surprise parties, you can take a solo road trip, you can treat it like any other day, you can spend the night out on someone else's dime, you can try something new, you can stick to tradition. If your birthdays suck, choose to make them not suck even if your choice of celebration doesn't fall right on your birthday.
I wouldn't say adults make "a big deal" out of adult birthdays. Adults make a big deal out of kids' birthdays, and adults choose how to deal with their own birthdays in ways that suit their personalities. Party people want parties, but most people I know aren't party people. /shrug
go join the jehovas witnesses they dont celebrate their birthdays
i live by one motto! "lolwut?"
Capitalism.
That is your answer, birthdays create money, money feeds greed.
Meh, stopped "celebrating" my birthday since 14 years. It's just a waste of money, and energy. Also, I hate people in my house.
Used to "celebrate" for the sake of presents ( or money in my case ), but then it just got annoying.
The same goes for other holidays, such a christmas, new year etc. They are nothing special. No reason to celebrate.
Also, here's a good song about birthday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ_ZQkV58Cc
also, OP is right. We're celebrating a year closer to death.
Last edited by mmocf002b94213; 2013-01-04 at 02:51 AM.