To Be 17 Again....No F-in' Thank You

Perspective is an amazing thing when you think about it. It is also probably one of the worst things ever at the same time. Perspective enables you to feel like you know something no one else does, but it also forces you to act like you know something no one else does. It must be countered with age, wisdom, and reason in order to become an actual useful thing.

Weird start for a piece I know. I spent the day yesterday with a group of 17 year-olds. It was a very interesting and illuminating day. I almost feel like I should apologize to my parents for everything done and said at that age to be honest. I look at them and wonder how did I ever make it this far. I mean they view the world like it is their own private joke and seem to pity those too old to get it. They cannot help it I know and I also know I was the exact same way at that age as were you and everyone else. There is a reason the old joke "hire a teenage while they still know everything" exists in the first place.

The group was great and friendly and they were the tight knit group we grew up watching in John Hughes movies. It was great watching them interact, but the parents each at one point in time said "wouldn't you love to be 17 again?" To be honest, no I would not. Senility has yet to set in and I still remember what it was like to be 17 the first time and would not subject my worst enemy to that hell again. It seems great at the time, but that is because you only have 17 years experience behind you. The thing most 17 year olds do not realize is that it only gets better and more intense with time, not worse.

There is a trade-off with time that most teenagers do not realize until it has happened. The amount of free time and lack of responsibility is traded in for the ability to actually enjoy your free time and the freedom to live life. I did not feel any different at 21 than I did at 17, but I had more freedom and responsibility. Today, at 35 I still feel mentally like I did at 17. I have the same passion and beliefs (mostly) and still listen to the same music, but I have also learned to balance the passion of youth with the wisdom of age and that is the main reason I would never want to return to 17 again. To know exactly what you want to say and what you think, but to be unable to express it properly is a hell beyond words. That is what it is like to be 17 and no thank you I did it once already.

There is another side to that and it is the wondrous aspect of being 17 that is lost on all 17 year olds: they have their entire lives ahead of them. They are unburdened with the weight of regret. They literally have their entire lives ahead of them with all options still on the table. Every year we age we close another door to a possible future and at 17 the doors are still mostly open. It is sad that we do not notice the doors until we stand before a sea of closed doors.