Why does ‘U’ have to be the 21st letter? It should be the first letter. But since it’s not…let’s examine the number 21. Most youngsters believe they should be adults at 18...the old timers want them to be adults at 21...actually old timers want you to act like an adult way earlier than that, but they still put new boundaries until you are at least 35. When you are thirteen…they want you to start being responsible. They allow you to go to a movie theater on your own to watch a PG-13 movie. Thirteen, give or take a few years, is the age when boys start developing pubic hairs, and sexual thoughts. The girls start to bleed monthly, and start wondering what it is about guys that attracts them so much…
At age fifteen, again give or take a few years, we have been thrown into high school. Many of us have lost our virginity, our innocence. Our natural instincts have been persecuted as the loss of innocence. In my days of being 15...the year 1990, we were able to secure a couple of permits. One permit to drive with an adult…and one permit to work a job. At 16 we could become LEGAL to work, and to drive. We also are presented with the chance to skip high school, and opt for the GED. At 18, we are allowed to buy some of the necessary evils of the world. Pornography, cigarettes, rolling papers, and explicit lyrics CD’s. We are also “allowed” to die in wars for our country, pay taxes to support our country, and go to jail for defying our country.
After suffering from the nothingness known as 19...we escape teenage, fly through 20, and land on 21. Now we are allowed to buy and possess alcohol. We no longer have fear of being drunk, because we have the legal right to be so.
It’s not until you are 23 (conveniently after a ‘normal’ person would have graduated college) to get financial aid for school, disregarding your parents status (you must provide your parents income for financial aid, despite whether or no t they will support your thirst for knowlege.) When you are 25, the insurance companies start to respect you as an adult driver, and afford you cheaper car insurance. When you are 30, you are viewed as a full blown adult. We all say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, that you should love yourself, if you want somebody to love you. But when people hear that number 30...it brings about many thoughts. What have you done with your life? What do you hope to accomplish?
*Of course the answers are measured against what society tells you. I will footnote this statement after I finish this timeline…
When you are 35, you are full fledged allowed to run for president of this U.S.A. As time goes on, though, we realize that a man 35 years of age 200 years ago (when the constitution was written), was relatively (in respect to his peers) further than a man of 35 today. Is it right to follow a man who isn’t as wise as his predecessors of the same age were? Or is he more wise, by having learned from history?
*Who are the people that control this country? Is it the do-nothing generation of older humans, having paid their dues, done the dirty work, and now hoping to reach their goal of ruling the country? Or is it the do-nothing generation of people, who built, organized, and pushed for advancement that should run this country? We are allowed to vote at 18...something I purposefully left out of my time line. Wouldn’t it make sense that the people that make this nation work, be the ones that make the decisions? Why have we become completely bored with politics? Why does it seem like there is too much confusion to advance our new found ideas? We are the people. Why don’t we stand up, and fight against everything that we complain against? If we complain, it must be wrong. If it is not wrong, let somebody spell it out for us…otherwise, what the fuck are we doing? Can we not admit mistake? We see the media pointing out the mistakes of other humans. We all know that there are other crimes against humanity that never make it to the headlines. So can we all feel like we’ve never made a mistake? Sometimes we learn from our own mistakes…and sometimes we learn from others, mistakes…Why be ashamed of a mistake, when we know that our fellow humans have committed mistake after mistake, just like us?
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