18. That’s the age when you legally become mature(in most countries). That is when you can own a driving license, cast your vote in elections, girls can get married.. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? The age when we are capable of doing our own things, living our own lives… But is it really so?
What really happens the morning you turn 18? You become an adult. Is that some sort of moulting? I didn’t find it that way. You wake up on the same bed, go to the same places you used to go, do the same things you used to do. And yes, birthday celebrations-they are no different. But people tell you: “Wow! You are eighteen now! You can do things as you please!” You believe it, you update your Facebook status: “I’m finally an adult!” And your friends congratulate you on the ‘accomplishment’. What’s so new in here other than words?
As far as I see it, being 15 and 18 are essentially the same. Both are kids. Kids with less innocence and obedience. The kind that is harder to control. The kind that gives headaches to everyone around. The kind that has hormones in the cranium instead of white matter. Exactly when we start thinking with our heads and not hormones is hard to tell. But I’m sure it’s not 18. When I was a kid I thought when you were an adult you knew everything, you never went wrong, you didn’t get scolded. But now I am 22 and still don’t understand things, keep making the same mistakes, and get scolded. Then what’s the big deal?
I didn’t find it any different the day before and after I turned eighteen. My pimples didn’t disappear. I was not entitled for a say in family matters yet. My innermost fears were still alive. I kept throwing temper-tantrums. I felt no different other than the fact that I could write ’18’ in columns asking for “age”.
Fine, lets say they chose 18 arbitrarily.(I know it’s not, but for the sake of the argument, lets pretend that way). So you are 18, and has become an adult. So what are you gonna do? If you have any legal proceedings, that could make a difference. But to the others, the world is the same. Those who were yearning to get the license, didn’t you do drive the vehicle even before you got the license? The
drinkers, were you waiting for your 18th birthday? You were sneaking drinks already! It’s just that now you have a license to ruin your life. But there are things without a license. Did you stop getting mad or sad once you became an adult. Did you have that radical change of “maturity” wash over you? I didn’t. I still feel sad, cry out loud. Only I don’t do that in public. I pretend things are fine when
they are not really. I am everything while I was a child and more. Now I pretend.
That’s my point. Being an adult is just a pretence. Or better, the license to pretend.
Ed Unedited 