Over 140,000 babies are born every day around the world. - FACT
I share a birthday with Brett Favre and Mario Lopez. - FACT
My birthday changes who I am every year. - FALLACY
In the same way that Juliet frustratingly soliloquies (kinda) that a name does not define who a person is, neither does the number of years we've been alive that accompanies that name. Actually, that's not entirely true. Apparently I'm walking my balance beam a little earlier in this post than usual... Obviously there's some relevant aspect to an age. Under 18, for example. But looking past that, I'm taking this down two different, but related routes: One, the arbitrary nature of claiming an age just because you're exactly 365 days x however many years older. Two, the seemingly uncorrelated relationship with one's actions with the number of their age (not the age itself). And I already see some self-doubt forming, so let's just Dora for a while...
My first thought is aimed at people who believe the day before their birthday is somehow less significant because you don't get to say, 'I'm ____ years old,' and be completely accurate. There seems to be this idea that we're only full numbers of ages after about the age of 12, and all the stuff that falls in the middle is just the gray area before your next birthday. Why are we so caught up in living life twelve months at a time? Our lives are so broken down into organizable segments that we tend to miss transitions and phases and transformations, reflecting instead as if things happen when we're sleeping.
'Wow, I was so different when I was 21 compared to when I was 22...'
Unless you lived the 365 days after your 21st birthday in a drunken haze, and suddenly woke up on your 22nd birthday sober (which some people do...), I'm going to guess that the change was defined by blurred boundaries and fluctuating time lines. So stop referring to your life in 12 month portions and start realizing that the ebb and flow of life is as wispy as swept up clouds sneaking across a low mountain sky, not meant to be contained, straightened, or organized.
My second point is losing steam. I wanted to write about it not mattering what age you are. Your actions, your maturity levels, the way you react to situations and plan your thoughts and convey your points, all these things seem independent of age, meaning not everyone progresses at the same speed, and that you don't need a number attached to you to be able to pull off being you. I've typically been considered slightly more mature for my age, and could pass for someone 4, 5 even 6 or 7 years older than what I actually am. This would imply that while my age might have restricted me on when I could legally drive, when I could legally vote, and when I could legally drink, it did not define who I was. I lived as an independent person, void of the shackles of age. And this is a cool idea.
But to say that age has no effect on people... There are some people that wake up 30 years old and go 'shit, I need to get my ducks in a row.' There are people that wake up 40 years old and think, 'it's now or never.' There's even people that wake up 70 years old and go, 'I guess I have to start wearing a diaper.' And for these people, the age is what matters. The number is what matters. The exact timing that 30, or 40, or 70 years ago, to the day, their life began. And according to their thought structure, and their life blueprint, something needs to be happening. And at 29 and 362 days, and 29 and 363 days, and 29 and 364 days, nothing changes. But on that 365th day, boom goes the dynamite.
I'd like to hope that I will continue to live my life void of age constraints. Void of fearing a new number next to my facebook birthday. But who knows what the future will bring? All I know right now is I've thoroughly enjoyed living a portion of my life, and I hope the rest of it continues down this path.
I really struggled for an appropriate picture about age. Any suggestions?
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