Growing up

Birthday celebrations are an occasion for enjoyment and excitement. It is the time when our relatives and friends gather to wish us and offer their blessings with a special present. My special day was Friday (April 17). It is a day that I look forward to every year because birthday teaches me the essence of growing older.

After the cake-cutting, when everyone was chatting on different issues, my cousin started a discussion on birthdays. 

He said that birthdays also remind us of our responsibilities that come along while growing older.

Just then one of my uncles got up and replied, “It is true. But in order to take care and fulfill such responsibilities, one should not only grow older but grow up as well.”

We all were surprised as what was the difference between growing up and growing older.

I had often heard people telling children, “You can keep growing older but you need to grow up” or “Grow up,” but couldn’t ask anyone to explain the difference. 

Since it was my special day, I asked him to explain the difference between the two.

He said that growing older by age is not in our hand. But we have to grow up by becoming more sensible. As the time passes, we have to become more mature than before.

I agreed with him. I realised that until and unless we grow up, we cannot realise the purpose of life.

It is rightly said: “Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.”

(Published in The Gulf Today on April 18, 2015)