The ‘Happy’ Before the ‘Birthday’

Birthdays are probably the best celebrations yet. For an individual, it is the best day of his/her life because it commemorates the day he/she was presented to our wonderful world. It is truly a remarkable day, hence, we often attribute the word ‘happy’ before it: Happy Birthday!

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Based on personal experience, I believe that as we grow older, the meaning of birthdays evolve into something much deeper. When I was a kid, I always look forward to my birthday because it means that I will be receiving new toys or clothes, and my family will bring me to an amusement park or a mall to buy stuff I like. That is how I achieve happiness on my birthdays as a child.

There was a time, around high school I think, that going to amusement parks or buying new toys and clothes do not fill my happy-meter anymore. Perhaps I reached a point of maturity or something like that. I felt happier just by spending time with my friends and family. The mere fact that people I know, special people, remember my birthday and celebrate it with me is enough to keep me satisfied. No need for expensive gifts, no need for melodramatic speeches, just the presence of the people I love already fills me with joy and happiness.

Happiness, as a kid, usually equated to the number of gifts we receive. But we soon realize that as we grow older, those toys will soon be left behind as we begin to long for real happiness, that which is satisfied by good relationships and most importantly by love. We become happy because we know we are loved. And perhaps, that’s what really matters most in our pursuit of happiness, whether it be our birthday or just another regular day.

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I would like to greet my grandma, LOLA NITANG, a belated happy birthday! It was her 75^th birthday last January 12 and as a special gift, I prepared this video for her and presented it during her celebration. I love you Lola, we all love you!

Barbwires Make Better Fences

It’s not much of a new idea to my ‘readers’ that I am nonconformist. I tend to put social norms aside when it comes to certain stuff. I reckon that these norms might be compared to a dictator: you follow every order he gives and do only what you are told to do.

I do not mean to say that social norms are bad. Probably they were there for a reason. Personally, I think that reason is for people to assess each and every one based on a common denominator. It exists so that a person’s individuality can be comprehensible, and fit into something bigger which will make us realize that we are not really that unique. Social norms keep society intact and yet leave each person mutually exclusive.

Having these norms is like building a fence made up of barbwire around you. It is either good or bad. Whilst having a barbwire fence can keep away external influences to your personality, it also keeps you from moving freely within your own personal space. Conforming to these rules makes us look good from the outside, yet it keeps us struggling from within.

I don’t hate rules. They are there for a reason we may not [want to] understand. But sometimes, we just have to take some risks and break a few of them in order to truly express what we think and feel, and finally free ourselves from the fences built not by our own two hands.