A Tale of Two Birthdays

When I was a boy I read an article on Helen Keller where she was quoted as stating she’d had two birthdays: when she was physically born (June 27, 1880) and the day she met her teacher Anne Sullivan (March 3, 1887.)

Beyond my amazement at Keller’s incredible ability to overcome adversity, my childish mind was somewhat dazzled by the notion one could even conceive of having two birthdays! As was to be expected, time passed and I quickly forgot the strangeness of this impression.

Many years later the same strangeness assaulted me when I read in the news: China’s Communist Party tells its members to celebrate two birthdays: The day they were born, and the day they signed up.

For ordinary people, there is only one birthday, which is the day of birth, but for Chinese Communist Party members, there are two birthdays.In addition to birthdays, another special birthday is the ‘political birthday.’ When members swear by the party’s bright red flag, ‘I volunteer to join the Chinese Communist Party,’ they are making a political choice to firmly believe in communism and making a solemn commitment to hand everything over to the party. Such an important moment in life should be deeply remembered.

This time, my mind also flashed back to a second incident of my youth. In the late ‘ 70s Colombian army patrols would comb the streets for draft-aged teenagers and forcefully conscript them for their war against armed subversion. I was captured and taken to a military installation where I received a citation containing this gem:

You have been recruited by the national army, which must from now on become a source of pride.

In my view of the time, not only was I being hijacked by a genocidal institution; I was also being commanded to be proud of it! Talk about adding insult to injury.

When I read the CPC’s dictate for members to celebrate their “political birthday” both the Helen Keller and the Colombian army unreal feelings resuscitated in my mind. Joining the Communist party is to be celebrated because it comes to relieve you from your blindness and deafness; and you have to be proud of it!

Despite the CPC’s endorsement of atheism, it is -like all authoritarian organizations- an intolerant religious institution that demands to be truly loved and believed in. Like Big Brother, it won’t stop torturing you when you’ve renounced all ideological opposition. It’ll allow you to die only when you’ve accepted it as your savior, deep in your heart.