I ran across a piece by my favorite poet, Billy Collins, the other day. (Just so you don’t think my favorite is just some slouch, I want you to know he was twice the Poet Laureate of these United States.). Anyway, the poem is called “New Year’s Day, ” and taken as a whole it seemed to me a bit on the maudlin side, but the idea that grabbed my attention was about birthdays. It seems the English essayist, Chales Lamb once wrote that everyone has two birthdays, the day you were born and New Year’s Day
It seems the Mr. Lamb related to those two days especially because they marked the passage of time. Mr. Collins’ take on this was that both marked the passage of time, of course, and that both mark a “joyous anniversary of our existence.”
Mr. Collins observes that he’d welcome another birthday to remind him to stop and remember to reflect on his existence on this earth. He goes on to reflect on the fact that at some point there will come an ending day, etc. That’s the maudlin part.
I prefer instead to go back and look at the suggestion that we add another birthday to our year’s calendar. Now some of you out there think I’d be in it for the presents, but my point of view is that it might just be a chance to do something different. Turn birthday on its head and consider it your duty to provide a gift to someone else. We could sure use a day like that, one that reminds us to give, not just take from life.
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