I remember when I turned 18 many years ago. I was a junior in high school, having the time of my life. My thoughts at that moment were mainly tied to the fact that not only could I legally buy cigarettes and lottery tickets in Florida but was also a legal adult. I also received a free razor in the mail, which at the time made me wonder how people knew it was my birthday. Now, more than five years later, at the ripe old age of 23, I look back and wonder what the big deal was. I have now all the accumulated rights and privileges of a legal adult. I can buy pretty much anything, although renting a car is a hassle, and I can vote in any election. About the only thing I can’t do is run for federal office. As yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of the 26th Amendment, which lowered the minimum voting age to 18, I began to wonder how relevant being 18 is anymore. After all, at 18 one is legally an adult, invested with the rights and responsibilities of making contracts, working on one’s own and possibly living on one’s own. Yet, one’s adulthood has many qualifications in the eyes of the law. We’re all aware, of course, that one must be 21 years old to buy alcohol in every state of the Union. Now, this law, brought about by the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 (how positively Orwellian) ought to be seen in the moralistic context of the burgeoning “War on Drugs” attitude which kicked into high gear during the Reagan administration and continues to this day. Still, it has always unsettled me, the notion that one who is deemed a full-fledged voting citizen and able to serve in the military would be denied the right to purchase alcoholic beverages. Leaving aside the evidence, cited by John M. McCardell Jr. (president of Middlebury College), that this legislation has increased drinking problems on campus and is a “terrible law,” one wonders what it means to be an adult anymore. Some of this blame, unfortunately, must fall to those of us who are young adults. As a rule, 18-25 year olds, especially those who are subsidized by their parents, are naive on matters of life, as well as heirs to a tendency to act like a bunch of spoiled jackasses. Believe me, I’ve seen some of the Tigerland crowd sober. Of course, the fact that folks our age have always been immature to some extent has always been evident, given the hot-blooded student riots that used to engulf mediaeval universities. Still, I wonder if the fact that we occasionally act immaturely can be derived partially from the fact that we are expected to. Were students and young adults not humored, given their full rights as citizens, and expected to accept the consequences of their actions, I believe we could, as a generation, become stronger than those of our parents and our older siblings. Our grandparents, in general, never had it easy. Mine sure as hell didn’t, and I’ve floated along like a pasha in comparison. I wonder if we all wouldn’t benefit, at least those of us who grew up with Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch girding our loins, from a good slap in the face of reality. So, here’s the deal: let’s start acting like real adults and maybe, just maybe we’ll get our rights back. If not, we can finally vote the bastards out.
_____Contact Ryan Merryman at [email protected]