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Kelvin Chiringa
In the past week, this writer had the pleasure of sharing a birthday with a loved one and walked the extra mile in reaching deep in his pockets to make sure the day becomes extraordinary.

Interestingly, this writer has never celebrated his own born-day, whether this is out of sheer poverty on his part or lack of interest, it is not known.

Indeed young people across the country and the world at large have a tendency of marking in bold on their calendar of life events the very day on which they were born.

Individuals invest a lot on gifts, cakes, music and dress to make every birthday out of the ordinary to the point that birthdays have become commercialised.

As this reporter was in the process of cooking up a surprise for his accomplice who happened to be the birthday girl, questions tumbled in his mind.

Why do we give a fuss in celebrating such a day, what exactly is in a birthday, how deep does its meaning go and can we all celebrate our birthdays in the same way?

In a quest to find answers to these questions, this reporter took to the streets and met up with a lot of young people who opened up on this topic.

“People celebrate their birthdays to walk down memory lane and remember that their coming into the world was not as easy as living in it, that it took hours of labour pains for our mothers to give us this life

“Indeed with age comes wisdom which is confirmed every time we celebrate our birthdays, as such my birthday is significant because of the love that brought me into the world,” said Prince Chidzvondo from Visitation Makumbi High (17).

Chidzvondo went on to reiterate the profound understanding that celebrating birthdays has an effect of making death seem so far away.

“It is the only day I can have too much cake and candy and be silly in a matured way of course, and the excitement makes it as if I will live forever,” he said.

Ryan Nyamutswa (19) from Waterfalls believes birthdays are a mark of maturity and out of the context of the material gifts that may come with it, it simply reminds us of one simple but profound thing that we have grown.

“Forget the fuss about music and dance and rub out the cake and all those material items, our birthdays serve the purpose of simply reminding us that we have grown, that we have survived another year and hence we must act matured,” said Nyamutswa.

Contrary to popular understanding birthdays are not all about extravagant spending or derailing oneself financially for an expensive day of eating and dancing, it has a spiritual impact of connecting us to the love of our parents.

“Each day a child is born the day is remembered and revered not so much because so and so came in the world, but because on such a day a mother gave in to the rigours of pain to give life and hence that life and that mother have to be celebrated

“This is a more spiritual than material event, yet due to how the day has been misconstrued, many can’t breath properly if they are not showered with gifts on their birthdays which is sad indeed,” said Cousin Mupagore (19).

Fact is sadly not everyone can celebrate this much revered day in the same materialistic way due mainly to cultural dynamics but more importantly financial standing.

Before delving into protracting a budget to make the day fun, one has to have a sound philosophical approach to the day, that as much as one may or may not enjoy the surprise cakes and wrapped presents, one is in the main celebrating life.

“It is sad that in the process of celebrating life some people are also getting rich out of our birthdays, for those of us who can’t spend for their birthdays we rarely celebrate it the same as those who have the financial means

“Resultantly I find myself not being able to spoil myself every year but it still does not spoil the happiness of celebrating maturity,” said Tambudzai Jones (18).

The significance of celebrating birthdays does not lie on whether one has money or not or whether one has received gifts or not, but realising the importance of life and growing.

So next time you are to have a birthday, think outside the box of materialism and find happiness in the hand behind the gift you may receive, realise the pain your parents endured to give you life and celebrate that brave endurance.