Happy Birthday, Hanzo!

The Keret carrot cake is on the way! | Non-Fiction | Fresh Soup

Image by Nitas ft. Hanzo

Sometimes, in moments when life feels unbearable, I remind myself how difficult it is to be a rabbit. As a human being, every day I must stand like a dam against the countless crashing waves of callousness and violence.

And yet, there is not a single item on my list of fears that involves me ending up on some carnivore’s plate next to mashed potatoes and a few lettuce leaves like the ones I used to munch on when I was still a spirited bunny and not a dinner special.

But that’s not the only injustice with which rabbits must contend. Did you know, for instance, that the overwhelming majority of bunnies on this planet do not celebrate birthdays?

My own personal rabbit’s excuse is technical: when Hanzo burst into our lives, he was young, but since we didn’t know exactly when he’d been born, his birthday remained a hazy concept.

This year, far too late, I’ve decided to declare December 31 as my furry albino genius’s birthday. Because if January 1 is the very beginning, then Hanzo was already here before that.

Happy Hanzukkah and a Happy New Year!

Translated by Jessica Cohen