Age and Identity
What I wish more people knew about me is that I am at least one to two years younger than everyone I come into contact with on a daily basis. This may not seem like a huge issue, but it quite often plays a role in my everyday life. This is something I usually keep to myself. Age plays a powerful role in how we view one another. I find that if someone finds out my age before they know me, they will treat me differently. Usually, I am treated with a touch of condescension whenever it comes up. I feel that this is an unfair prejudice. While I am sure that my age impacts my intelligence and abilities to some degree, it makes me no less of a student, friend, or co-worker.
This age difference all started back in Kindergarten. I suppose it appeared to the teacher that I was advanced because she would often ask me to read storybooks to the class while she took a break. This was happening one day when the principal walked by. Subsequently, I was placed in the first grade at the beginning of the first semester. This did not really bother me at the time. I was just excited to be able to play on the computers, a privilege not granted to Kindergarteners. I happily adjusted to my new grade and went on to take various advanced classes at four different elementary schools. It really started to matter how old you were when my classmates began approaching the magical age of thirteen. Thirteen years old seemed nearly adult, next thing we knew we’d be getting married and having children. When I had finally become a “real teenager”, in the eighth grade, it no longer mattered. Their attention was now turned to the all-powerful driver’s license and the promise of ultimate freedom on the wide-open highway. Sadly, I suffered the embarrassment of getting rides in the minivan to movie theaters until February of my junior year. Now that I could drive, I was still excluded from the glamorous world of 18+ concerts, tattoos, piercings, and of course, voting. I cannot sign any of my own official documents. As I approach the end of my senior year, I will become a seventeen-year-old high school graduate.
My relative age is important because it is one of the determining factors in many areas of my life. Most of the people I associate with on a social level are two to six years older than me. I don’t often advertise this fact. It usually remains a secret until someone spots my driver’s license or when the topic of birthdays comes up. Sadly, I am always the youngest who must make sure to borrow an ID from someone. Being a senior in high school, I still live at home. I really don’t mind living rent-free and eating free food, but it is frustrating to still have to abide by curfews and other various rules. I do not have as much life-experience as many of my friends. Try as I might, I cannot relate to them on some issues. I believe that I have been able to compensate for my age in a number of ways. I have always socialized with those who were a bit older than me, consequently I feel as if I am years older than my actual age. I am able to function at the same level as those older than me, both socially and intellectually, and therefore able to bluff my way through many situations. Overall, I don’t think that I have been adversely affected because of my age.
My age does work against me occasionally. Upon graduating, I often hoped to travel and possibly work with a humanitarian organization such as the Peace Corps. Unfortunately, you must be eighteen to do any of those things. I plan to enroll in a four-year college next year. Some universities have strict housing policies that force students under 21 to live on campus. Under those rules, I would not be able to really live on my own until I enter graduate school. I feel that I posses the discernment and responsibility to live on my own. Policies such as the one previously mentioned use age as the end all for decision making. Pay no attention to my maturity level and abilities, I am a legal liability and unable to think on my own. I understand the reasons for such policies. In viewing most students my own age I would agree with most of the government mandated age requirements. For this reason I have resigned myself to simply waiting until those glorious 18th and 21st birthdays roll around.
While age is not the most powerful source of my identity, it is one that I half-heartedly embrace. There is simply nothing to be done about it. I believe that this will become less of a factor when I am no longer underage. I also suspect that as I grow older, the generation that I was born into will become more important than my specific age. This will determine a large part of my worldview. This aspect of my identity will undoubtedly evolve as I age. It is my hope that I will learn to appreciate whatever role my age takes in my identity.