How Old Is Old Enough?
Posted by kmils on May 16th, 2008
This argument has been around for a very long time. We have set ages for voting, drinking, smoking, working, and driving. We’ve all lived through those years and couldn’t wait to get old enough to have the full rights of adults.
I still have enough of a kid in me to take the teens side when they ask why it is they are old enough to carry a gun, be sent thousands of miles away to a foreign country where they are ordered to fight and kill, but they are too young to buy a beer.
Don’t get me wrong, I hate drunks and people that can’t handle their liquor, but how can you ask a teen to die for his country and not give him full rights in that country?
I guess the message is that drinking requires more maturity than deciding to kill someone does.
Moreover, we all know that no one over 21 would abuse alcohol or drive drunk.
I’m not advocating lowering the drinking age for all teens. In fact in many cases from my experience, people in their mid twenties are not all that much more mature than those under 18. I do think maybe we want to raise the age for battle, or let them buy a freaking beer.
