The way home was less a yellow brick road, more a two mile trek of cycle tracks, chavs and mopeds, however, I was accompanied by another good friend, so made do.
We chatted, discussed the good bits of the night, the awkward bits, the stupid things I'd said, and so on.
I reached my house, awkward man hug goodbye, and to bed I collapsed.
Next morning, and my hangover cure; I spent 45 minutes in the shower, reflecting on the drunken dreams I'd had in the night, and going over events, thinking how she was hot, she wasn't, he was nice, he wasn't, and how "Oh, why did I say that!? And maybe if I'd said that, I'd have been funnier, and maybe she'd have fancied me, actually, wait, I'm not even sure I fancied her, anyway." and so on. You know, normal thoughts one has about the night before...
Somehow though, my head managed to worm it's way round to an old friend of mine who was a Jehovah's Witness.
I remember, him having a birthday, and telling us he didn't celebrate it, because it was part of his religion not to.
As I understand it, Jehovah's Witnesses are a very strict.
Now, obviously, after having such a nice time the night before, the idea of not celebrating a birthday at all, is an alien concept to me. I'm not going to go into the belief side of things, for want of debate or another, I don't know anywhere near enough about the religion. Hell, I'm still not sure whether they're part of Christianity or not...
But I'll just jump straight to my point.
They don't celebrate birthdays!!!!
For a start, as a child, had I been a Jehovah's Witness, I would not have got this:
(Space Precinct. Best show ever. My friend broke the door off. My brother never forgave me...)
I don't understand, how in this world full of misery, and I mean filled up to bursting with hate, murder, rape, peadophillia, war, crime of all sorts, something stops us celebrating birthdays? And Christmas. And Easter.
We need any excuse nowadays to see our friends, our family, to go out and meet new people, not less reasons!
We need any excuse to have a good time.
We need any excuse to show the good side of human nature.
Hell, we need any excuse to show love.
What I love about most religions, most of the time, is that they bring people together! At weddings, at birthdays, bar/bat mitzvahs, etc. some could be religious events, others might not be. Others might be a religious event being celebrated by non-religious people, but know what? That's fine too.
People having a good time, laughing, rejoicing, knowing that someone has lived another year, been born, been christened, that two people are about to spend the rest of their lives together, that someone's just become a man/woman, that someone's got a new house, whatever the occasion is. Celebrate.
"I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing."
-Agatha Christie
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