It’s the final day…

Of being 23.  Hehe.  Yes, tomorrow is my birthday.  This doesn’t really mean much to me though.  As it is, last year I almost forgot my birthday.  But this year I’ve been reminded by my family, friends, and co-workers.  It doesn’t feel any different knowing that tomorrow I’ll be a year older.  How does one mark the true passage of time.  How does one really know when they are older.  My sister is about five years older than I am.  Yet she is much more immature than I am.  My parents even admit that (not around her though, she’ll throw a disney show teen fit) but she definitely wouldn’t.  She always talks about getting older and how she’s so much older.  It’s a little sickening.  Granted, we never know when we will die but in the case that she lives to be in her 80s or 90s, maybe then she’ll see how foolish she was talking about being so old in her late twenties. 

  I’m not saying that she (and since my other sister is only a year older, and I’m younger) is only a babe in being in her late twenties.  I’m an adult, I know that and I’ll be damned if I’ll let someone else treat me otherwise.  But how do we really determine how someone is older.  Knowledge alone is not a true reflection of becoming older.  A child prodigy that graduates high school five years ahead of schedule will probably not be able to handle many of the experiences of high school as well as his/her older classmates.  Yet it is not just social experience that makes one older either.  Mr. or Ms. Popular in every high school, college, or workplace is considered the royalty of social circles, yet many times these people lack the depth of seeing the true reality around them.  If or when their bubble is burst, when they are not the center of attention, these types of people are unable to cope well with the reality of the world. 

  Throughout time wise men, philosophers, and social commentators have all talked about a certain type of person.  The concept was first thought of in royalty, the Philosopher King.  The man who was a warrior, strong and skilled and an educated man, wise and knowledgeable.  As time went on and the royalty gave way to democracy a new definition was created, the Renaissance Man.  It was a man that was learned in many different subjects.  A student of science, fencing, horseback riding, mathematics, history, weapon combat, chemistry, etc.  As time grew on this definition was changed yet again.  We now call this being a well rounded individual.  Yet the concept is the same.  We center the subjects of our schools and universities around this concept.  We hope that, with this system in place, that when someone gains years they also gain age.

  As I look back through my years I try to see where and how I’ve received age.  How did I receive age beyond my years.  Is it a dream or is it a nightmare.  Is the cost of the additional age worth the help I’ve given to people, the light I’ve tried to bring into others lives.  Is it worth the loneliness that came with being unable to connect with most people my own age.  These are questions I’ve asked myself more than once.  Some days the answer is so clear and other days it is gone like fog in sunlight.

  Maybe the celebration of a birthday should not be so much of how old someone has become, but rather to celebrate the day they came into the world and, hopefully, brought light into a single person’s life.  That thought is reason enough to celebrate for me.

-Damien