Birthday

What could possibly be the most precious thing that God offers to human? Watching and hearing some news about the births and the deaths lately have brought me to a conclusion: that it is a life. And revised, it is not an offer, but a gift. God doesn’t negotiate, He decides whether a soul lives or dies. He gives a life and at once, He also takes a life. Yin and Yang. A balance that only by Him can be done.
Once in a year, we commemorate the day when God brought us to this world, we celebrate our birthdays. Cultures have created all those symbols and rituals linked to a celebration of everyone’s birthday through greetings, parties, wishes, presents, etc. I humbly believe that it is all to express how blissful we are to be allowed to have and given a life—manifested through the ages—until the present. But, is this what we really feel about those festivities? Do we really think about the greater gift above the party, the sincere and lovely greetings, the presents, the gifts, the surprise from loved ones, that is a life? Do we? Do I?
I have never had a day on my birthday when no one sent me not even one birthday greeting along with the wishes, and I couldn’t imagine having a day like this. Would I still feel blessed? Could I thoroughly live that day without misery? I suppose everybody wants other people to remember about him or her in life, which is simply shown by greeting them on this special day. But then again, what is the main purpose of the entire rejoicing moment?
It happens that I answer this primary question by myself. Well, the idea that occurs in my mind is to cherish the fact that I am still alive and people remember that I am. It triggers another thinking to pop up: why am I still alive? Necessarily, there is a reason for it. And that is the puzzle I have to work on; that everybody has to work on. Behind the ordinaries and common lives people are living in, I am so sure that every living soul in this universe has a mission to accomplish. And bringing it into life might be a way to celebrate our existence and our presence among others. Even so, it is the soul itself who chooses whether to go search for it, or bury it within for comfort’s sake.
So, this is birthday. The older I get, the wider I see, the more I ask, the lower I fall, the higher I jump, and the deeper I ponder, the universe leads me further to decode and making me to be more precise about the purpose of being alive as a person. Birthday is a monument of our aging-self wandering for signs and quests every year, without we even knowing it. And turns out, the generous people around me—who kindly care to spare their minute just to greet me—give their own contributions in an unintentional way, in terms of figuring myself. Through the greetings and wishes, they help to define me as somebody, which then helps me to reflect on my existence. Hence, I thank you all. Because there is no greater gift than to know that you are somebody's child, sibling, lover, partner, best friend; that you are someone to somebody. 


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Makassar, 131213

These are some bday greetings from my husband, sister, and friends on Path, yet are just a few from many other lovely greetings sent through other social medias and (the most meaningful) personal messages & calls...



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