Birthday.

January 30, 2007

A birthday. A very exceptional event remarkable enough to reminisce the years of survival–the fact that an obstinate human child goes on to become an adult despite great odds.

 

It seems most like an ending–another year, gone. But it gives rise to a review of all the things accomplished in the past year, of gains that have been made, the great teacher of experience that has enriched life, even if some of its lessons have been learned painfully.

 

No less than it is an end is that it is also a beginning. Just as looking back on the past offers a sense of accomplishment, so does looking ahead to the future inspires new goals or lets us continue striving for the old ones. Every year, we are given this wonderful opportunity to begin anew.

 

But in all this looking ahead and behind, we might easily forget to examine the here and the now. We must pause and see what we have right now. Whatever we look back upon and wish that had been, whatever we look forward to and hope for, it turns out that those things that we need most of all are here with us today. That, at this very moment, each of us is showered by blessings untold and incomprehensible. We have more than we can possibly understand all at once. In daily living, trials and tribulations threaten to overwhelm us. So on the occasion of birthdays, let us take advantage of its exceptionality–it is, after all, only 24 hours compared to the 8,736 ordinary hours in the rest of the year–to pause and give thanks for all the things that we do have; and most importantly, for all the people who support us with the gift of love, a gift given not on just one day of the year, but everyday of every year.

 

I am aware that time has truly been passing for me. And with my special day, I catapult backwards through time, like paging through a picture album from back to front. And I realize that most of the other 364 days of the year surrender themselves to the haze of half-forgotten memory.

 

Are my sacrifices worth them all? Have I done the right things? Have I made the right decisions? Are my deeds enough to please people?

 

14 years.

 

It can never be enough to tell that I know every road I take in this life's journey. I am young, inexperienced, dependent and still learning. Some may tell I can't do things on my own yet. Others may not believe in what I can do. Still, some may think I am that innocent to not weigh things equally.

 

But this I tell you: I am not an idiot to not make things right. Maybe, you can see them wrong. But whatever I do leads to something I know can make me happy. And you can never let me take those back.

 

Cheers to me!

 

Cheers to being 14!

 

Cheers to February 2, 2007!