Class In Session

    Today, we’re going to talk about the young, the old, and the in-between.

    We’re also going to talk about why all the years in all the world don’t really make a damn bit of difference.

    If you’re scoffing as your read that opening sentence, do me a favor, shut up, read, and judge my conclusions as you will AFTER you read my article.

    Now, then…
   
    I’m just about twenty-one years old. Societal standards pretty much dictate that no one older than myself will take me the least bit seriously until I hit twenty-five, at a minimum. State regs say I was an adult at eighteen, they say that I’ll be fully responsible for myself as of next month- (and that legally, I will now be empowered to drink myself into a coma, but that’s neither here nor there…) and yet most of the “adults” around me will still treat me as a “child” for awhile yet.

    You look at someone my age, and you might be inclined to consider us “innocent”. Probably not in a sexual sense… Really, cruise around on the internet, find me a thirteen or fourteen year old of either gender that isn’t at least *trying* to bang anything that moves, and I will personally recommend you for a Goddamn commendation.

    Nope… not in a sexual sense. But “innocent” within the context of the world, within the confines of “real life”, within the structures of society, the way things work, the realities of existence… we “young people” seem to often be treated as though we know nothing about these things, simply by virtue of the fact we’re a relative few years younger than the person passing judgment.

    And you know what…? I don’t really like being treated as a child; never have. Never could stand being dismissed out of hand simply by virtue of my years, and to this day, it still really bothers me.

    But, what the hell. I’ll allow the possibility that you’re right. Those of you who sit in judgment, hey, why not. Maybe you’re absolutely right, and you’ve come to some grand realization that the younger generation has not.

    But here’s the kicker, boys and girls…

    Everybody’s learning. We never stop. I don’t care how old you get, the honest truth is that only the world’s most idiotic being will ever believe that they know everything.
   
    Until the day we return to dust, the world will be in constant flux; and the rules of life will be changing and warping long AFTER you and I kick the bucket. Long after we fade from memory, long after our friends are gone, their friends and their friends… barring some cataclysmic fuckup that kills every sentient being on the planet…

    (As an aside, PLEASE don’t even SAY 2012, I will scream “Y2K?” and gut-punch you…)

    BARRING THAT…

    Until such time as everyone and everything dies out for good, man… everything’s changing.

    Most people treat innocence as a handicap.

    Me, I treat it as a luxury.

    See, that’s why I get along with kids, and that’s why I think they’re the luckiest little bastards on the planet; because they’re still fully clinging to hope, and dreams, and all the beautiful, grand, adventurous imaginings inside their heads.

    Innocence is a blessing. It’s a treasure, it’s not something deserving a derisive smirk or a raucous round of pointing and laughing! Innocence is the act of holding onto those wildest, crazy, colorful concepts, and believing in your heart of hearts that somehow, someday, someway, they just might become reality.
   
    You explain to me then, what the hell is so bad about that.

    There really isn’t such a thing as knowing more about “life” than the other guy, young, old, or otherwise. I offer to you that there’s only PEOPLE, each of us surviving in the best way that we know how. Perhaps some of us have seen more than others, perhaps some of us know more about a given subject than him, her, them or whatever…

    But the world’s always changing, and Goddamnit, at the end of the day, I don’t care who you are, nor do I care how OLD you are or what you DO… all that matters is that you hold on.

    You live your life, you make it WORTH living.
   
    If on your final day, as you cast your eyes up, and you wonder what you’ll see when you go to meet your maker… if on that day, you can say there was at least one single thing you did, or saw, or heard, that was worth experiencing…

    Then in my book, you did all right.
   
    You held on for as long as you were going to. Life wasn’t a total bust, and there was at least one ace amongst the hand you were dealt… that, to me, is a good life.

    When that day comes, whatever WAS will BE, and nothing else is going to matter.

    This life is a test of survival. There’s no good way to play it, nor is there a bad way; everybody knows their joy and their pain. All we have is a moment, another, another, and maybe one moment more… then it’s back where we came from.

    So, in conclusion… here’s my thing about the concept of innocence.

    If life is just about getting what you can from it; finding as much enjoyment as you can… about laughing and learning as much as you can…

    Every day that a person can cling to innocence is a beautiful thing. Every single day they can look towards the next like it’s a kind of adventure… good for them.

    Don’t laugh at the people who can still trust, and laugh, and get giddy or excited. Don’t smirk at them and think, “Oh, you’ve got a lot to learn…”

    Truth is, chuckles, class hasn’t let out for you yet, either. The older you get, the harder it is to remember that. I know, because I do it myself more often than I should.

    You’ll never learn all the lessons, because nobody ever does… but between you and everybody else…

    I say the person who leaves this world the happiest, that’s your winner right there.