If we are talking about celebrating life, either I don’t get it or I have never thought about it because I don't understand why we need to celebrate our lives as human beings. Why celebrate it?
Just because we are born? Because we managed to not die for one more year? I don’t understand the effort to celebrate birthdays, bad marriages, and anything and everything that one can think of in life. I also don’t believe that life is a gift bestowed upon me and, thus, don’t feel lucky to have it. I’m just one of the billions of people on the planet. On this, we can look at cats, squirrels, dogs, i.e. all other living beings who don’t celebrate a thing. We’ve already drifted apart from our own nature by perceiving time as a linear thing, cut into specific points or sections along that line. In fact, time advances by turning. We should perceive it to be three-dimensional; we must say, “Spring has come again, and it will come again.” This is the way of thinking of all living creatures besides us. They don’t celebrate but engage in actions which we can interpret as a celebration. They thrust themselves upon nature, jump into the water, jump around on the grass, and jump on trees. They do this not because they are celebrating but because of their nature. I believe it’s time we started thinking like them. Today, the fact that Halloween has become a national holiday is a great sign to understand the scale of unnecessary celebrations in Turkey.
I think I care more about the question “What can I do?” instead of celebrating. I’m in a constant bargain of “What do I get and what do I give in return?” and this question expands from my close circle to a greater circle, and then to the rest of the world and nature. Of course, no matter how hard we try to avoid it, there’s no escape from the celebration. I’ve had celebrations so bad that I haven’t been able to forget. Surprise birthdays, the obligation to surprise others on their birthdays, celebrations for marrying someone, on New Year’s... For instance, the New Year is an obligatory celebration in our home. We just have to do it. We celebrate a lot of these occasions due to obligations because we are carried away by others. It can be the same for other people, too. We engage in these celebrations because our neighbours, relatives, and friends are doing something and we don’t want to evoke a feeling such as “We’re alive, too. Or are we depressed?” Other than that, I have no expectations from celebrations. What I especially don’t get is the popping of champagne and people experiencing needless joy after a TV program, play, or film has been wrapped up. I don’t understand celebrating things just for the sake of celebrating them. In short, sometimes, it’s best not to celebrate.