What I want for my birthday

 

 

 

 



Remember how, when you were young, people used to ask you what you want for your birthday? My fondest birthday memory was getting my first red Duster BMX. I was probably 9 or 10.

I loved that bike. It was one of the only things I can remember really wanting for my birthday. I made so many memories riding it around the neighbourhood with my friends growing up. To steal a phrase: “it was not about the bike”. It was about being happy. Tearing down the hill of Scheepers Street in Parkside, dicing my friends was when I was at my happiest. How simple it was then just to be happy.

When you get to a certain age, people stop asking you what you would like for your birthday and to be honest, that's cool. That is how it should be. When you start earning a living, it's easier to get the things you want for your birthday yourself. Case in point. This year I got a new tattoo.

I haven't asked anyone for anything for my birthday for a very long time. I haven't had to.

I would like to change things up. This year, 2014 ... baba, I would like to ask for something for my birthday. It won't cost you any money. It's not a #neknomination or a random act of kindness, per se. It's just a request to put out some positive vibes into the universe.

So here's what I would like for my birthday. I want you to make someone happy.

Anyone.

The beggar at the corner. Your wife. Your husband. Your mother. Your father. Your daughter or your son. Your neighbour. A stranger. A friend.

Call that girl you know with cancer and tell her you love her. SMS your friend who is going through a tough time, a divorce, a break up or who has lost a child, and tell him or her that you are there for them if they want to talk. High five a stranger on the train or bus, or in the taxi on the way home. Tip your waitress a little bit extra tonight.

Plait your wife's hair and ask her how her day was. Put on one of your husband's shirts and wait for him to get home from work. Tell the moody girl at work how pretty she looks today. Tell the guy who struggles with his weight how thin that shirt makes him look.
Ask your girlfriend to dance, in the grocery aisle at Woolworths.

Just for today, I would like to know that, somewhere out there in the world, someone is being nice to someone else because I asked them to. It's not that difficult.

It's as simple as riding a red Duster BMX down a hill when you were 10.

DISCLAIMER: Fellas, if your wife or girlfriend is waiting for you at home in one of your shirts this afternoon I really only have one thing to say to you: It's my absolute pleasure.

Finally it's not just my birthday today. It's also Bob's and no-one said it better than Bob.