They say it's your birthday

February 10, 2012

This year, there have already been 14 million births. Who will those babies grow to be and what will the influences be in their lives?

For such a short month, February claims an interesting cluster of birthdays of great thinkers and creative types: Johann Sebastian Bach, Jules Verne, Charles Darwin, James Joyce, Thomas Edison, Susan B. Anthony, Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Ronald Reagan, Charles Dickens, Steve Jobs, W.E.B. DuBois, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and the contemporary composer (still living) John Williams. Also musical ladies Dinah Shore, Rihanna, Shakira, Paula Abdul, Michelle Shocked, Natalie Cole and Carole King. And how could we forget George Washington, father of car sales?

Folks at MIT will celebrate the birthdays of humanitarians Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln today at noon. For information on the event, check this link.

What could possibly account for the weight of influence these people have had on society? The immediate response is that they were born under the same sign. In the early half of the month, they're Aquarians, described here as stubborn, creative, and concerned for humanity's sake. Those born during the latter part of the month are Piscean, described here  as “... idealistic, sensitive, and love to play martyr. They are often shy and would much rather impersonate someone else than be themselves. That's why so many are actors, artists, writers, and dreamers.”

At the same time it's impossible to discount the circumstances of their lives, of course, from the dark shadows of London that Dickens described to Lincoln's log cabin poverty to Reagan's hero complex.

We can only calculate their influences on our own lives, from knowing Bach's creative stubbornness to overcome his disabilities to the fearlessness in the face of oppression that allowed Susan B. Anthony and Rosa Parks to pave new paths of equality to the serenity of Carole King's mellifluous voice.