Purple Haze
Celebrating more birthdays
By Lauren Bagian

Feb. 18, 2010

As I approach a birthday of my own, I’ve been thinking about what birthdays can mean to others. There is a period in everyone’s life where they stop anticipating birthdays and start dreading them. Birthdays mean another year tacked onto your biological tally and for teenagers 16 means driving, 18 means legal adulthood; every birthday means more freedom and cause for more excitement. However, for some adults, birthdays make a switch; 40 means over the hill, 55 means senior citizen and to some that is unnerving.

In my opinion, neither way is a great way to view birthdays. Every year may mean more freedom, but more importantly each year means more time spent with those you love and more memories. Birthdays are also not just about accumulating wrinkles and gray hair. They are inevitable and with each year come more experiences and more knowledge. The American Cancer Society claims to be the official sponsor of birthdays, acknowledging that every year and every day is a gift. The slogan is a brilliant idea and it has definitely allowed me to look at the candles on my cake differently.