Why do we celebrate birthdays? Or anniversaries? Or any thing of the sort?
We make time. We mark the passing of time, the arrival at milestones.
What is a milestone? These vary by culture: bah mitzvahs, confirmation, adulthood. They help us to understand the questions we might face at a particular time in our lives. Adolescence is like this, and young adulthood is like this. You are accepted into the community now.
Being accepted into the community is a major aspect of our lives, and the responsibilities that come along with it change with each milestone. This is why we should be wary of a nation that doesn't let its people drive until their twenty-one but keeps pushing back the age at which they will prosecute someone of an adult crime. We violate our own milestones for convenience and not for any rational purpose.
Birthdays are mile markers for the milestones. When I'm thirteen, I get to do this, and sixteen this, and etc, etc.
But they also help us to remember that each day is a birthday. Each day we can be new. Each day is new to us.
About Me
- Jeffery Nicholas
- I'm married to the most intelligent and beautiful woman in the world, and we have three equally intelligent and beautiful daughters (who one day will take care of me in my old age) and three cats (at least two too many). I teach philosophy at a Catholic seminary. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky (Go Wildcats!). My research focuses on questions of philosophical anthropology, ethics, and politics, though I dabble in many fields. My major influences include Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, Alasdair MacIntyre, the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, and Theodor Schatzki. I am currently working on a book dealing with the philosophy of human nature. The posts in this blog will focus on the questions which I come across as I work on the book. In short, I started the blog to motivate me to write every week. But I am also interested in what other people think about my thoughts here. Finally, I am also working on fiction, with a few short stories on the market. I have just finished (August 2007) my first novel which needs editing. To find out more about me, please see my website: http://jefferynicholas.googlepages.com/welcome
8 comments:
I suspect you meant "Drink" instead of "Drive" until we are 21. The other obvious irony of our country's reasoning is that we can die in combat for our country at the age of 18 but can't gamble a few bucks away in a casino.
I believe we can gamble in Indian Casinos at the age of 18. Well at least I had that experience..
Speaking from some experiences regarding milestones.. They are so great to look forward to but when you finally reach it it doesn't seem that great after all. For example, I was looking forward to going to college and accomplishing that milestone but now that I am here I don't have the same zeal that I did before. Now that I am in college, I look forward towards getting out *laughs* or till the end of semester.
Could these mile stones almost be interpreted as ways to continue living or to keep going forward in life? I guess they are a break from the repetition of the normal life of 9 to 5. We always look towards the next event, for example Spring Break, then after that break we begin preparing ourselves for the next.
We all look forward to certain milestones, it is who we are as a culture and what we do.
To E.J...
Do all cultures have certain mile stones?
and When you say "it is who we are as a culture and what we do"
are you talking about American Culture?
I understand what matt is saying about milestones being sort of a continuance of life. I also think that some people do find reason in that. Some people reach one Plateau in life and the only way to get themselves going is to try and look forward to the step in life.
To celebrate the birthday is to celebrate the individual.
When an anniversary is remembered and recalled, we relive an earlier moment in our lives together. We get a chance to share stories and reminisce about past adventures, good or bad.
Milestones of any kind are achievements. They let us share the special dignity each of us possesses. It is good to recall the past, and have wonderful expectations for the future, and it seems that celebrations mark that moment in time.
I also wholeheartedly agree that every day is a new opportunity to experience life. Each day as we rise from bed is another opportunity to grow, develop and mature as a human being. We should take advantage of that chance.
Birthdays are not that important when one really thinks about it. Like Nicholas said, each day is a new day. What I think these celebrations do to a culture is give it some kind of sense of belonging. We are always searching for identity. When we look to God we look to find out what is humanity? With our our cultural milestones we do simply that, create an identity for ourselves to feel valuable.
Never was too into birthdays myself, but kids have changed my perspective on that quite a bit.
By the way, Jeff, there's a call for papers for The Hobbit and Philosophy out. It's got your name on it.
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