A Series of Unfortunate Birthdays

Since it’s my birthday, allow me to post my birthday reflection and somehow a piece of gratitude. Thanks go to those who will read this post. You can make comments if you want (comments would be a great gift for my birthday).

A Series of Unfortunate Birthdays

Today is my 22nd birthday. No fancy celebration. It’s just an ordinary day with a little twist – better lunch and dinner, greetings, and some gifts. Looking back, my birthdays were always grand – my friends go over my place, my parents would give me special gifts, etc. My 18th birthday was the start of a simple birthday celebration. No more fancy celebration and just few gifts. Even if these birthdays were celebrated modestly, these days were still special. It marked that I’ve matured and have surpassed those too materialistic celebrations.

However, I could consider my last three birthdays as a series of unfortunate birthdays. This is not because of the simplicity of the celebration. It’s not even because of practically few gifts. It was a series of unfortunate birthdays because my 20th, 21st, and now 22nd birthdays were (and is) a season of crisis.

30th July 2003 – My 20th Birthday, OAKWOOD MUTINY

It was just three days after the Oakwood Mutiny. Almost all of the people were very much fixated of that recent national concern. Even I was also scared of the mutiny. I was so anxious of what was happening in the country then. It wasn’t a celebrative mood for me. It’s hard to celebrate when crisis had just happened and has yet to be absolutely solved. As far as I can remember, I didn’t even bother to buy anything for myself then…

30th July 2004 – My 21st Birthday, FRESH FROM LOST ELECTION

Almost all of the people who know me are aware of my involvement in the last 2004 elections. I’ve spent more than a year in helping for the campaigns of Raul Roco – believing that achieving his victory would bring hope for the country. Unfortunately, fate seemed to be not on his side. He got sick. Eventually the people lost their confidence in him (health issues) and did not vote for him. We lost the elections. We lost a supposedly chance to make the country better. The month of July, the hatreds were still there. I still felt the pain of losing a battle.

30th July 2005 – My 22nd Birthday,
GLORIAGATE SCANDAL VIS-À-VIS THE POLITICAL CRISIS

I am again confronted with a crisis now that’s it is my birthday. Apparently, I can’t still have a peaceful birthday. The current political turmoil has affected my subsistence so much. I am an always anxious person yet the anxiety I feel is even greater. Now, fear and anger are predominant. Again, it’s so hard to be in a celebrative mood. The country is in so much pain and that pain also reaches the deepest part of my body.

Alas, but it seems that fate is not in my favor whenever my birthday month will come. A lot of social concerns are afloat. Hmmm!!! But even if social fate seems not to sympathize with me, I still see some beautiful occurrences in my life. I still value the notion that even if life is short, it is always beautiful. That’s why I still try to view the positive side of life (of course, not discounting the fact that there are illnesses/problems that are present).

For this birthday, I am very much “blessed” that I was able to “officially” become part of the Social Movement. I already have a work that fulfills both aspects of life – social responsibility and career growth. I am meeting a lot of interesting people who could contribute to my intellectual, ‘spiritual’, and political growth. Furthermore, I have surpassed one of my great insecurities – failure to become a UP student. Now, I am enrolled in UP, pursuing my graduate degree. Lastly, I just found out last July 27 that I’ve passed the Civil Service Professional Exams. Oh well, that’s not so grand. It so happen that passing that exam will make my parents happy as they are obsessed of seeing me work for/in the government (for now, “THEY WISH” Hahahaha!).

Though there’s a series of unfortunate birthdays for me, you need not worry because I can still manage the anxiety. I still somehow know how to smile and even laugh (laugh too much). J