Post by Prometheus on Jun 9, 2022 5:08:45 GMT
This is a phrase we hear most often in relation to age gaps between [potential] romantic partners as in, "I know we're ten years apart in age, but age is just a number...."
And looking at how inconsistently we treat age in our laws, it does seem quite arbitrary.
In just about every state, you can get a license to operate a motor vehicle at age 16 even though you can't rent one until you are 20 and need to stay on your parents' insurance until you're 25 when you're actually mature enough to handle your own responsibilities and enter federal service as a member of the House of Representatives.
16 is also the average "age of consent" for sexual relations. This is actually a fairly new requirement, It used to be much lower. That said, the age to get married is generally 18 though there are a couple states with higher requirement. Of course, just because a girl is old enough for sex, doesn't mean that you can look at her or think about her sexually unless you are under the age of 18 because anything else is "creepy" or "perverted."
Just between driving and fucking we can see that we have decided that immature persons are allowed to do it legally even though we don't think they are mature enough to deal with the consequences until they are older.
18 is another fun age. We seem to agree that this is the age where a person enters adulthood... except that we still want them covered on the insurance policies of actual adults. Anyway, this is the age where we can go fight and die for our country but still aren't considered old enough to legally have a beer. THAT happens at 21.
Also, at 18, you are allowed to vote and have your voice heard! I'm not sure why we would want to hear the voices of a group of people whose only experience at life is fucking in the back of a car after drinking illegally purchased alcohol, but hey.
Another thing we can do at 18 is to legally purchase certain firearms. Shooting at targets sounds safer than the shooting going on in the back seat of the aforementioned car, but what do I know? And I did say "certain firearms." It's really just shotguns and rifles for 18-year-olds. For handguns, they'll probably have to wait until 21 to get access to the most commonly-used tool of murder, crime, accidental shootings, and suicide. After knocking up a bunch of girls in the back seat and being in debt up to your eyeballs due to child support payments sounds like an excellent time do commit a crime or two... or just go home, drink half a bottle of bourbon, and blow your brains out.
I think I've wrapped up 21 in my discourse on the other ages so let's move on to 25. Wait. You're finally off your parents' insurance and serving in Congress? good on ya... unless you're getting face-humped by Madison Cawthorn, that bastion of maturity. So that's it for 25. Odd that the age when you can actually start to call yourself a "real" adult is also the age that the US military doesn't really want to recruit you anymore. I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that you are no longer as open to or susceptible to the socialization processes used by the military to maximize conformity....
All that's left now are age requirements higher public offices... which all seem pretty young comparatively. Of course, a couple hundred years ago, a person at the age of 30 or 35 was probably well-established in their community, had steady employment, and a family.
These days, a 30 to 35-year-old spends all their time complaining on Twitter about how many times their "horrible boss" wrote them up for spending too much time on Twitter.
In the end, it sounds like 25 might be the actual "age of maturity" but you're never going to get anyone under that age to agree to setting the bar there.
/Thursday Afternoon Rant
![[cheers]](http://storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/engyBVslEdpmpmdnBwZQ.gif)
