What does it really mean to be 18 years old? Everyone always makes such a big deal about it because supposedly it's when you finally become a full adult. Yes you can vote, legally have sex, and are no longer under obligation to follow parental rules but who came up with the bright idea of making that age 18?
It sound like a stupid topic I know but for years people have debated about age and how you have to be old enough to understand certain things or know about the world. I know we clearly can't just dismiss things like driving age or we would have 10 year olds who can't see over the steering wheel wanting to drive, but when you think about it age is only a number. Depending on where you grow up and how and who with life experience varies between every single person. I know a guy who started smoking cigarettes when he was in 4th grade and ended up a complete pot head. I also know a girl who started drinking when she was 9 and she now goes to Harvard law school. They were both young, too young by legal standards, both not sure about what they were getting into, and yet one ended up a wreck and the other a success. How could that happen? Well it was all about their personal lives.
The girl drank because her parents desired for her to earn maturity and allowed her to. The boy smoked because his father did all the time and when the boy wanted to spend time with his dad they smoked together.
I'm not lying about this. It's all about influence. Age limits are there for a reason but they sure don't seem to matter for so many people now a days.
Think about it, when you are 16, you are emotionally unstable, trying to figure out boys/girls, school, struggling to gain individuality and find yourself. This is the age we put people behind the wheel of a car where they control their life and that of anyone else on the road.
At 18 most people are seniors in high school or freshmen in college, crazy, adventurous, young, and relatively new to being out on your own for the first time in the "real world." Yet these people control who leads our country.
At 21 you are in college or working or creating a sense of stability in your life, and yet here the law allows you to be exposed to alcohol, and let yourself go at a time when you most need to understand how life works.
In the end it's all up to personal choice of when you think you are ready. Any teenager in the world can get a hold of drugs or alcohol or have sex if they really want to, it's not about maturity or age limits. So why do we worry so much?
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