Why age is irrelevant

The interesting thing about age is that people make a big deal about it when they often have no idea how old someone is. You cannot simply know how old someone is just by looking at them. Many things play a part in how old someone looks. Their diet, exercise, and goals can often change how long they will live. No one should assume that age has any relevance to any other part of life.

I have never understood why laws are made based on the age of a person. For example, the law that as soon as someone is twenty-one years old, they are allowed to buy alcohol. Of course, alcohol laws are irrelevant to me since I don’t buy or drink alcohol. The fact that other people get killed by people who drink alcohol and then drive a car is very relevant but to the person killed or to their friends and relatives, the age of the drunk driver is irrelevant.

Another thing I have never understood is the concept of someone being “middle-aged”. Just how does someone decide where the middle is? Imagine that a person is killed at the age of ten by some tragedy. Would we refer to them as being middle-aged when they are five years old? Such a thing is irrelevant because nobody knows the future!

Please understand that by no means am I saying that we should ignore age completely and let toddlers smoke, drink, drive a car, get married, or vote in elections. What I am saying is that getting older does not automatically increase knowledge, wisdom, or responsibility. What I am saying is that there is no magical age which automatically qualifies someone to do something. I know that for me, my eighteenth birthday did not make me an “adult”. I have learned a lot since then and I can say that I am no longer the same person I was back then. Age restrictions may be a benefit but a lot of the time the things that have age restrictions placed on them are things that no one of any age should participate in.

That is why for me, I developed a system to keep my actions relevant. I imagine my life as if I had a child. If there is something that I would not want them to see, hear, or do, then I should also have nothing to do with it. It would be hypocritical for me to watch a movie and yet forbid a child to watch it with me.