happy birthday stan lee (this is for all the people who's birthdays are outshined by christmas)

today is stan lee's birthday. dude's a legend. pretty much everyone knows who he is, what he's done, and is a fan of at least one of his many superheroes or super villains.

stan lee, like many people, has a birthday extremely close to christmas. i myself suffer from a birthday who's spotlight is somewhat dimmed by the awesomeness that is christmas. it's tough to have a birthday within days of christmas, especially as a child. there's not much a parent can do to make you feel like you got a fair shake in life. your birthday and all aspects of it will be overshadowed by christmas.

your gifts will be of a lesser value. people have less money to spend on you. your parties will be lamer. people have other places to be since the holidays are filled with so many obligations. the energy will be drained to some extent. it's impossible to avoid this since christmas sucks the life force out of all things that dare gather near it.

so it seems like a total bummer but it doesn't have to be. and stan lee is a great example of this. sure his birthdays were lamer... so he probably got lamer toys and had lamer times. but this gave his imagination more room to grow. it wasn't stunted by all of the usual spoiling that comes with a birthday. stan lee may have had less fun because of this outside his mind, but no one could control what was going on inside his mind.

and look what the inside of his mind has delivered to the world. merry fucking christmas and happy fucking birthday to all forever cuz stan lee is the reason for marvel comics. i feel it'd be a total waste to try and even quantify the epicness of that kinda contribution to mankind.

so if you suffer from a birthday that is drowned out by christmas, try and see this as an opportunity to put your focus elsewhere. if the whole world won't stop to notice your anniversary on earth, start planting seeds that grow into trees that eventually create a forest that is impossible for the world to ignore...

...stan lee did.