Friday, July 6, 2018

I want my birthday changed to 1st January


No, it is not me but my daughter who wants her birthday changed to 1st of January. I thought I will make it clear upfront.

Couple of days back, late evening my daughter came up with this weird request to get her birthday changed to 1st of January. Upon probing as to why she would want to get it done, she answered that her birthday being in December, comes last. She wants to celebrate her birthday before everyone else does. I told her that if she wants her name changed, I can do something about it but cannot help her with getting her birth date changed. However, she was adamant and started crying.

I was sure that this must have been an outcome of some discussion that happened in her school with her classmates. My wife ultimately did figure out from her that one of her classmates did comment about her birthday being last and it was the reason for this weird request. I was left wondering how a seemingly innocent comment of a classmate could have such an impact.

On one hand, I found it very amusing. I was initially laughing at her weird demand. However, the very next moment I thought that the whole reason was to come first or be ahead of others. We as adults are no different. Most of us, if not all are fighting to be ahead in the rat race. In fact, we may be doing things more harmful than changing birth date in order to be ahead of everyone else. 

On the last day of our life if we are conscious enough to reflect on our life, I think each one of us would realize that it didn't matter how many times we were first but the kind of impact we had with our presence on people around us.