Reflections: On Birthdays
Well, today is my 77th Birthday. A day that I really didn’t think much about until last night when Teri asked me what I would like to do on my birthday. As I said, I hadn’t really thought about it other than the fact we had made dinner plans with friends and family. That seemed adequate to me. I couldn’t think of any reason to celebrate. It wasn’t a monumental birthday like my 21st or 50th or even my 65th. So, I decided to go on line and pose the question is 77 an important birthday?
Much to my amazement the answer was NO! Well, actually it said it’s not a milestone birthday and is generally considered to be the middle of old age; whatever the heck that means.
Don’t worry, in true Bob fashion I continued digging. I found that the age of 77 has a special meaning in Japan but I don’t know what it is because it was written in Japanese. Here is the actual response…..
“The 77 year old you posed the question to is called 喜寿(Kiju). It was named after the Kanji"喜" which looks like 七十七(77) when written in a simplified form.”
Glad they gave me the simplified form!
Not to be denied, I put the symbols in my Google interpreter and it told me 77th birthday. However, the same article goes on to say “Turning 77 also deserves a special celebration in Japanese culture. Why? Because this year is seen as the "joyous year" or "happy age." Someone living to this age is indeed fortunate.” I couldn’t agree more with that statement but, I still wanted more.
As I read on, I ran into a number of significant or at least interesting facts about the number 77. For instance, in certain numerological systems (based on the English alphabet), the number 77 is associated with Jesus Christ. CHRIST is C= 3, H = 8, R = 18, I = 9, S = 19, T = 20, which added together equals 77.
During World War II, in Sweden, at the border with Norway, "77" was used as a shibboleth, a password, because the tricky pronunciation in Swedish made it easy to instantly discern whether the speaker was native Swedish, Norwegian, or German.
And after all that, I tired of the quest. However, like every time I obsess on a point, issue, song, or some trivial matter, I learned something.
Today, I learned that a number is never just a number. They all have significant meanings or uses in different cultures and different people. As far as a physical age is concerned, I guess I confirmed what I always knew. The significance of your age varies greatly by an individual much like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I’m grateful for making it to this “ripe old age” of 77, but I don’t think it’s terribly meaningful to me. I still feel young and I think young, but I don’t see that young guy in the mirror anymore. I don’t feel that spring in my step or burning in my gut. I know I’m not “that guy” anymore, but I know I’m not who a lot of people think I am because of a date on my drivers license, or the sight of my cane. All that being said, I’ll leave you with a couple quotes that I can identify with and maybe you can too.
"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." - Mark Twain
"Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional." - Walt Disney
