Ten reasons why birthdays should be obsolete

'Tis my Birthday! Time for my yearly wish: in lieu of gifts please think about your ancestors in Africa, and if possible sacrifice part of your life expectancy for them. Okay, I get it, you're too busy running errands and wasting time watching screens, but I had to try. I had no say on this day, so I refuse to participate in this construct of commercialism. In this 'look at me' society people are obsessed with gloating about some day they randomly appeared on planet earth.

Personally, I think it should be a crime to advertise your date of birth on all forms of social media, heck, even in newspaper classifieds (for those oldies among us). No one cares that by sheer luck you were born as a creature that can use 10% of your brain capacity. Talking about life's lottery, I'm outraged that in 2018 there are still way too many nations that have a life expectancy of less than 50 years of age.

I give you the dreaded ten reasons (life expectancy for both sexes, World Health Organization).

 Sierra Leone (44.4)
 Angola (45.8)
 Central African Republic (45.9)
 Chad (46.1)
 Lesotho (46.6)
 Cote d'Ivoire (47.0)
 Nigeria (47.7)
 Somalia (47.8)
 Mozambique (49.6)
 South Sudan (49.9)

Think about it, you could have been one of those unlucky to be born in a country hard pressed to crack the half century mark for longevity. Please remember your fellow humans when you're showing off your invincible life in some plastic paradise (finger firmly pointed at the Western world). I will reconsider my negativity towards birthdays when one of the ten countries (from the homeland of humans, Africa) reach at least 70 in life expectancy.

In the meantime, I will yawn anytime someone waits impatiently for their "friends" (even though most don't know your middle name) to wish them a happy birthday on some timeline. Sorry to burst your bubble, but collecting countless worshipers online is plain sad - pure definition of insecurity.  Same goes for 80-year-old's whining about health concerns, remember, some folk can't even blow out 50 candles due simply to their place of birth.

Szia/Ajoj (hello) from Hungary and Slovakia!

Corruptions Perceptions Index (Transparency International) has Hungary and Slovakia at 66th and 45th respectively (U.S. ranked 16th for those playing trivia at home).

Although, these two countries hand down destroy the U.S. in lack of murders - Hungary averages 1.48, Slovakia 0.88, U.S. 4.88  homicides per 100,000. It pays not to have political parties and gun lobbyists that actively seek bloodshed among their people. The biggest cause of mass shooters are always homegrown citizens, so the argument of terrorism is null and void when you can't stop your own from being aroused by killing machines.

Take a tip from Hank (as Americans refer to humans called Henry): life's too short to waste with your eyes hemmed to a screen,  shut off the idiot box and your plastic devices and explore the world around you, even if they happen to be corrupt nations or ones that place guns above human dignity.

Wherever I travel, I always pledge allegiance to that nation, after all, we're all earthlings. Here's to the great nations Magyarország (Hungary) and Slovenská Republika (Slovakia).

                                                             

Hungarian Parliament, 2/20/2018

                                                       

Grassalkovich Palace, 2/22/2018