There are many factors that make one individual different from another. One of those factors might be the location or the time of your birth. What do you think about yours?
There is no doubt that each person is unique, set apart from all the others by their experiences as well as by their DNA. It is also true that we human beings like to celebrate birthdays. Are those two things related?
Certainly, fans of astrology like to believe that the stars in the sky at the time of your birth, and possibly the position of the planets as well, determine your personality. That’s why, they say, a Gemini is different from an Aries.
Rationally, it is hard to imagine the mechanism which would allow stars to have that kind of impact. However, there may be a more earthbound explanation. Could the time of your of your birth impact your development? Does a child born in the winter have a different development curve than one born in summer? Is a spring baby different from an autumn baby?
Listen to a podcast where Michael and Lee discuss a related question: ‘What makes you you?’ We also discuss a bonus question: ‘What gives a person value?’
Similarly, does the geographic location have any sort of long-term impact on an individual? In a very simple way, this must be true — a baby born in a country that has a lower infant mortality rate is more likely to grow to adulthood.
But what about more subtle differences? Does the simple act of being born in Seattle make for a different experience than being born in Atlanta? Is being born in a hospital drastically different from being born at home?
Or are the differences instead due to childhood development that comes later in life? Does it matter more where someone lives at, say, five years old than where they were at birth?
Most of us know, with a great level of certainty, exactly when and where we were born. Do those facts say anything in particular about us as people?
Related questions: What makes a community? Why do you live where you live? How many times did you move as a child? Birthday: Celebrate or not?
I was born at 1:05 AM on September 2. This means I had to/could wait a whole extra year before I started school than a baby born on September 1. Did this extra year of brain development give me an advantage once I was able to start school? Perhaps. (I also likely needed that year, as I was born several weeks premature.)
I just read a book titled “The Other Side of the World” where two people each longed to return to their original country, but when they finally did, it did not work out as they expected. The realities were not in line with the emotional ties which drew them there.
I was born in mid-summer, which meant (during grade school) that nobody was around for my birthday, to party with, since they were off having vacation adventures. That affected my self-esteem more than it had any right to.