By: Livie Pedersen
The yearly calendar is filled with a myriad of holidays that bring people excitement and give holiday spirit. One specific day out of the year has the ability to be the most important: a birthday. Everyone has their own birthday falling on a specific day, and birthdays are not officially considered holidays.
During Wilson Hall’s spirit week during homecoming 2023, we had a daily theme of holidays. It fell on my birthday, so I decided to dress up as a birthday! Our middle school principal, Mr. Gandy saw this, and said I could not do that because a birthday is not a holiday. I disagree with that.
Obviously, a birthday is specific to one person, so everyone’s birthday cannot necessarily be tracked and controlled and truly marked as a holiday on our calendar. I understand that and how everyone has a birthday, making it not as special or unique in the big picture, but if someone has a birthday, they need to be treated with respect and kindness. After all, a birthday is a huge milestone for someone’s age each year, as it is the day that marks moving up to the next age. Thinking back to what Mr. Gandy said to me that day locks in my opinion that birthdays should be important enough to be considered a holiday and needing some kind of celebration from people around you— from a simple “happy birthday” or a planned surprise party, any celebration is worth it. A lot of people end up being sad on their birthday and statistics show that you are more likely to die on your birthday, so it is extremely important to make sure someone’s special day truly is special, whether it is actually considered a legal holiday or not.
