liked this one:
“Society may well have branded birthdays as another capitalist drive to eternal pleasure but do we ever take a step back and think about what we are celebrating?”

I’m now 19, a year since 18 has flown past, so fast, and yep by now you do (someone like yourself) think about the ageing, declining nature of time. You should take a time to reflect and ponder but also recognise that its also a time of thanks and gratitude to your friends, families and also to the Being that made it all possible. Birthdays are a great time to bring people closer and recognise each others worth - celebrating together. We show gratitude to Allah by celebrating Eid, you can also show gratitude to Allah by celebrating each others special days.

Happy Birthday bro, stay strong and remember relaxation and enjoyment is also part of our great faith. Here is something I read in my recent studies at uni: - enjoy
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin’d,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
(sans: without)

Said by Jaques (As you like it, Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166), William Shakespeare

Great article…….

Good question, why are we here? Maybe to have fun and party?

Another old teacher I heard say “Use the Force”. He would say that I always ‘Looked to the Future and not on the Present’, bah! I’m much better than he is, the old fool. lol

Jamil