BY ANDREW KRUSZKA, STAFF WRITER
Everyone looks forward to those birthdays, right? You have to know what they are! The birthdays that most Americans get all excited and hyped for are, without a doubt, your 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 21st and then any time when you turn an age with a zero in it. Let me explain, for each one, and then I’ll present my argument on why I think the number I just turned isn’t so special.
First up, we are the age of 10. This is simply an exciting age to turn because you are finally out of the single digits and have moved on to the number of digits in age that you will probably be for the rest of your life unless you hit that milestone of turning a century old. According to insider.com, only 0.004% of the people on this earth right now, out of 7.8 billion people, are 100. So that clearly shows how good your odds are.
Next up on the list is 13, which is most certainly because you are now a teenager and have every ability to now think you are right all the time. I have memories of listening to parents tell their children, who just turned 13, that they think they’re little Miss. or Mr. Perfect now.
Following that, we have the age of 16. At least in New York State, this is a huge age to turn because you can finally get your permit and start driving. This is the age where you’re finally starting to feel like an adult. You’re not really an adult though. You drive the vehicle you drive with your parents or any relatives and you go about your life in a teenage way for the rest of it. Still, 16 is an excellent age to turn.
After 16 lies the age of 18, which is usually the positive year you graduate high school, but it’s also a very scary one. Most of us are moving out of our childhood homes and on our way to a new life at a college that we think would be the best choice ever. Sometimes it turns out like that, and other times, it doesn’t.
The age of 21 is one that I will wait on because that is where I’m really going to make my argument for why it just isn’t really as good as what people make it out to be.
Any age that you turn with a zero in it appears to be significant in American culture after you turn 21. People always seem to use the comments like “you’re turning the dirty 30 this year, you’re turning Hawaii 50 this year, you’re reaching a milestone of ⅘‘s of a century.” All of these comments always seem to come out when someone is turning the age that has a zero in it.
For my real argument now, turning 21 isn’t the best thing ever. For instance, the 21st amendment makes it so that you can now legally purchase and consume alcohol. For your 21st birthday, this is probably a very exciting thing. I’m not totally bashing the age, but after that it just turns into a completely normal thing to do. At 21, you’re most likely almost out of college, which means you have to start your life up soon and let’s be honest. We’re all scared of that. Being 21 means that people actually fully look at you as an adult, and to me, I’m not sure about others, but it’s quite scary.
Please don’t think that I’m bashing birthdays because I actually thoroughly love celebrating birthdays, especially for friends and family, but just know, 21 isn’t the best age to turn like some might make it out to be.
