We are caught in a tough spot as 19-year-olds. We are thought to have most of the answers. But, news flash, thoughts are not always realities.
We do not have to know what we want to do after college. We do not have to know how to cook. We do not have to know how to support ourselves in a way that we no longer need our parents' very much-needed help in the expense department (sorry mom and dad, just a little bit longer until then).
Yet, people think that just because we are at the age of 19, we can do these things and more. Apparently, we should have the majority of our lives already planned. Apparently, we should be doing the same things they were doing when they were young.
Well, apparently not.
While most adults think our generation is “out of focus” or just outright lazy, we are simply choosing to live our lives. Of course, this luxury came at a cost. Our parents were able to give us this advantage of being able to live freely without care because they made the sacrifice of limiting their experiences for ours.
We thank you guys for allowing us to live this way, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have to follow in your footsteps because we “already have the answers.” We are living differently because we are trying to find the answers.
We are trying to understand more about the people around us – about the world we live in. Just because you think we “know more than you do,” you still tell us we are “too young.”
Too young to drink. Too young to go out on the town with friends. Too young to be doing anything other than focusing on school and/or a job.
But leave that to us.
The mistakes us 19-year-olds make are our fault. Not yours. We know it saddens adults to see us make these mistakes — even the smallest ones — but that is part of our generation. We will not learn without a few scrapes and scars.
So, no, we are not supposed to know anything at 19.
If people knew everything at such a young age, then why waste the money for college? Why not work in a lab to finally find the cure for cancer or discover the solution to global warming?
Unfortunately, we do not have that knowledge yet.
But, maybe our mistakes will help us get there.
If mistakes can help manufacture the existence of X-rays, Vaseline and many more objects that are frequently used, why are we “too young” to make our own? Who knows where it will lead us?
After all, that is where apps come from — from being out in the world and wondering how to benefit the life of the everyday person.
From these inventions, we are able to connect more with adults through Instagram and Snapchat or even find a healthy way to live through calorie counters. These opportunities came from the outside world. Revelations of what the world needed did not come from someone who knew it all, rather from someone who was trying to know.
We need to be free from “what we are supposed to know” and discover “what we strive to know.” The difference lies on a blurred line, but we will get there. The 19-year-olds of the world will figure out what they need to know when they finally get to where they are going.
So, goodbye to the pressure of needing to know, and hello to the adventure of knowing.