The merit of a birthday party

My young brother Richard is turning 22 next week. A birthday has been organised at cloud9 hotel, a few blocks away from our parents' home.
Richard, a proffesional civil engineer, graduated last year in January. Though he is yet to get into the job market, with lots of companies prefering people with experience to hire, making him continue waiting for his first job.

Me with mr brother today evening

This evening, as i had come over to check on home, we interacted with Richard and he brought up the birthday topic. He said he wouldnt celebrate his birthday next week had it been up to him to decide. And talked of how he had achieved nothing so far that was worth celebrating in he's 21years he has lived. This struck me, though i had to comfort him, calling on him to be patient, and all that.

I later gave a deep thought to this after he had left, and actually came to realise that he made sense on what he was talking.
We all set landmarks in life and would love to be identified with them. These stretch from constructing a house, starting a business, marriage, among others. And we feel we havent accomplished in life without achieving all of them.
This feeling is worse when one hasn't achieved any of the land marks he set.

For this, i believe there is no merit in having a birthday party when one has no achievement he would be proud of in life. Deep within yourself, you'll have to struggle with the feeling of under achievement that no one else but you will know. A feeling of knowing your a long way on achieving the goals you set, and that there is nothing worth celebrating in your life depending on the goals you set

Don't get me wrong.. we can mark birthdays, but birthday parties are not necessary for those of us who are still a long way from making a mark worth celebrating in life, an achievement we would be proud to be identified with.

We put a lot of funding in parties we celebrate, calling on friends to come and witness us marking the new age, and nothing more to that

A recent birthday party that had been organised where i was hanging out from

Lets divert these funds into activites that will pull us closer to the goals we set. We can mark birthdays with a simple feast if we are to celebrate them.

These parties will be a lot bigger after meeting the milestones we set.

Above all, 'lets work hard until it pains, because poverty hurts much more' A qoute from Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda