Thursday, August 25, 2011

I am 16 going on 21, lallalalala!

I was coming back from grocery shopping this morning. I have to go in the morning because my car's registration has expired (as well as my driver's license) and 'that' is the time of day when people get pulled over less. That's my theory. The darkness also shrouds my out of date registration sticker from prying cop eyes.

I was thinking about young drivers. In America, a person as young as 16 years old, can get their driver's license. But at 16 you cannot do the following: vote, have sex with an adult, look at pornography, watch rated 'R' movies, join the military or drink alcohol. You can, however, get behind the wheel of a car, without supervision, and drive into traffic, risking the lives of other drivers, as well as, pedestrians. I can honestly say at 35 I am not emotionally stable enough to drive! 'Move faster! Quit tail-gating me!'

Lately, I have been arguing (to myself because I'm weird like that and I have a lot of time to myself) all the issues concerning age restriction. Most of the arguments went like this: 'There are those that are young that are mentally and emotionally mature enough to do the things that the government will not allow them to do based on their age. There are those who are not mentally or emotionally mature enough to do those things and yet they are old enough. And since the government can't rely on a person's judgement regarding whether they are ready, nor can they rely on a parents judgement to determine if their child is ready, they have to 'draw a line in the sand' concerning age limits.

I understand this but what I don't get is how they come up with these numbers. At 16 I can drive a car but I can't shoot a gun or fight a war. At 18 I can shoot a gun and fight a war but I can't drink alcohol. A 15 year old can have sex with a 15 year old but a 21 year old cannot have sex with a 15 year old, because that 15 year old is not mature enough to make the decision that they should or should not have sex. Unless they make that decision with another 15 year old. What!?! Who comes up with this crap?

-Nosmo King



4 comments:

  1. It's scary how young kids can get their licences in the US! In Australia, you have to be seventeen to get your Learners - and then you can only drive with an adult supervising until you pass your test six months later.

    We used to have the drinking age at 21 over here as well, but I think it was the Vietnam war that changed that. The theory was that if you were old enough to die for your country, the least you should be allowed was to go and have a drink in a pub. And it's a fair point.

    The age of consent is a tricky grey area, isn't it? I can see how the legislation is there to protect teens from predators, but there really needs to be some discretion on a case to case basis. Does the 18 year old who sleeps with his girlfriend deserve to be on a sexual predator database for the rest of his life?

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  2. True enough but I fear the elderly who pull off of pit road at 35mph and take out half the field on the interstate.

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  3. You can drive a car, get a license to drive a car but you can't rent a car until you are 25!

    I think there are two large hats & in one that there is numbers in the other rules & restrictions. One is pulled from one hat & another from the other. That is how we get bullshit laws.

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  4. I just looked at the date on this post. Aug 25! God, how time flies. It's almost been a month. Thank you all for your comments. I'm am attempting to reach immortality through the computer so if you have any friends who like to read crap posts, laugh once in a while, ponder life or just plain torture themselves, spread the word. Toothskinner.blogspot.com! We breathe the air you're too afraid to breathe.

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