Happy Birthday to us!!

 As a child I never knew I was poor because my mother always made every memory for my siblings and I something straight out of a fairy tale. The tooth fairy left us money under our pillows, Santa came while we were asleep, and the Easter bunny pooped rainbow candy filled eggs in our living room while we were at church. I never had a birthday party or fancy birthday vacations but one thing my mother always made sure was to make my birthday, my special day.

 Now as an adult and a mom myself I keep the tradition alive. At work when it is someone's birthday my employers give us a check, a card, and a cake. I’ve spent 22 years of my life believing everyone celebrated birthdays like me. One year at work it was a coworker’s birthday, a card was going around the office for the staff to sign, I handed it to another coworker to my surprise she said “No, I don’t celebrate birthdays, I am Jehovah Witness”. It was such a shock to me. Uneducated about her religion, I found myself thinking, how can someone not celebrate another year of life? If it is because a religion, shouldn’t we thank God for allowing us to celebrate another year?

As the years went by, I watched my coworkers pass around the card for people to sign and we would skip her. We would serve cake to everyone and she wouldn’t look its way. Every year you would hear someone say, “How can she not celebrate birthdays?”

Jehovah Witness don’t celebrate birthdays because they believe it displeases god. (Jw.org) Although people who do not practice Jehovah Witness believe another birthday is a blessing from God, Jehovah Witness believe you are putting your body vulnerable to evil spirits and influences to attack your body (jw.org)

My mom had the hardest job of all. Raising 5 children, keeping up with every holiday tradition and birthdays but I now can’t help but wonder, how would she have been able to make our childhood seem like a fairy tale without holidays and birthdays?

             Work Cited

"Why Don't Jehovah's Witnesses Celebrate Birthdays?". JW.org. ND. Watch Tower Bible and Tract

     Society of Pennsylvania. Web. 08 Aug 2017