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Happy Birthday to Me
September 26th, 2007 by Benjamin Wagaman.Categorized as life, philosophy.
For the first 30 years of my life, I’ve sung this song as my yearly national anthem to myself. I might as well be saying, “I pledge allegiance to myself…” A couple weeks ago I finished reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. At one point, he mentioned how he felt like he was in a great play, and the central character was himself. I often feel like that. I bet most people do.
I wonder what life would be like if I played a supporting role in that play. What if I didn’t even play a part in some scenes, but was working on the special effects. That would be cool. I think this metaphor is gong too far…
I remember when i was 8 or 9 thinking that God had set up my family, friends and others around me as characters in a drama revolving around me (the only real person) and he was testing me through my interaction and involvement with them. I remember thinking the world revolved around me when I was a teenager (there’s probably sufficient video footage to prove this), but then at college, I quickly learned how insignificant I was. And that has made all the difference. That took me from extrovert to introvert and from blowing off my parents to appreciating them.