"Birthdays were invented by Hallmark, as were several other 'holidays' in the US and around the world."
one day caring about the person you're celebrating, whether that's your mother, father, sibling, SO, teacher or whoever. They say, "Every day should be like Mother's Day or Sweetest Day. We should respect and love them every day."
Yeah, that's pretty true. I agree. You should always cherish people and respect what they do for you. But there's a type of validity to birthdays and holidays that make them important to uphold and celebrate.
Because the fact of the matter is that we all love to be celebrated once in a while. We all the love the recognition that comes from having a day dedicated to you or to your role in someone's life. And that celebration deserves very special planning, very elaborate schemes, and a big spectacle. More than just saying, "I love you, thank you." Whether's that treating yourself to a bath and some good food on your birthday, or surprising your SO with flowers and chocolate and spending the day telling them how much you love them on Valentine's Day, you find that those types of celebrations are special.
And the other fact of the matter is that those special celebrations, practically speaking, can't happen every day. We should think about how much we love someone every day and tell them, but doing something grand to celebrate them like they deserve, can't necessarily happen every day. So it's nice to set aside one day a year and spend time and energy to tell this person, to really show them, how much you love them and care about them.
I tell my mom that I love her every day, but this year for Mother's Day, I planned a surprise pedicure for her. We spent time together, I gave her a nice foot massage, and I got to celebrate her for being a bomb-tastic mom. On a normal day of the week, I probably would not be able to do something like that, because we're both busy people and don't have time to sit down for 3 or 4 hours together to do something like that. But on this special day, we set aside time to spend with each other, to celebrate mother and daughter, and honestly, it was a lot of fun.
That's why holidays like these are not Hallmark holidays, they're special. They're your chance to spoil someone, to show them how much you love them, to say thank you for everything, to treat them to something special. And yeah okay, I get the anti-establishment appeal of rejecting major holidays, calm down, anarchists. You're not gonna beat them, so might as well join them, and save yourself time and energy by taking those days to celebrate your people. They'll probably love you for it.