A Letter

“Time is what we want most but what we use worst.”

– William Penn

Back in biblical times people lived to be as old as nine hundred and sixty nine years old. Yes things were immensely different back then, but when you sit back and put things into perspective was it really all that different?

Maybe they measured time differently or maybe they were incredibly healthy and did in fact live almost a thousand years. However, unlike in biblical times the way the world works today is based entirely on different standards. During the time that Jesus walked the earth, His followers were enthralled by His teachings and lived every day in the land of the living.

Today we focus on one thing and one thing only; time.

When are you going to graduate? When are you going to get a job? When are you going to get married? When are you going to have kids? When are you going to start your life? How much time do you have left?

You’re running out of time.

Age is but a number, but in todays era it is a nameplate to the world, displaying how long you have been on this earth and how much you have done with the years you have been given. Why should age be the dictator in where you should be in life?

We live in a world full of judgmental socialites that base their life decisions on those around them and those they deem “better” than societal standards. This could make you mad or it can cause you to see the harsh reality of the world and try to not let it beat you.

At 16 you are supposed to have the knowledge to drive a car, pass the test, and have your address and picture posted on a card to let the world know who you are; is that who you are? When you look back five years later at that picture of you, all flustered and nervous but excited because you passed the test, is that really you in that picture? 

At 18 you are to graduate high school and have a mapped out plan for your future. Is that person that’s staring back at you on page 10, with the rest of the graduating class, is she a person who has life figured out?

At around 21 or 22 you are supposed to graduate from college after spending 4 years gaining the knowledge to take on the world. Once you graduate you get a job and find your soul mate and get married and live happily ever after. But is that really how it goes for everyone…of course not.

I am 22 years old, I didn’t get my drivers license right when I turned 16; instead I got it 10 months later. I may have graduated at 18 but I had no idea what I wanted to be, and to be honest I still don’t. I started down a path that had amazing possibilities until I decided that I needed to try something else. I have changed my major 3 times and changed schools twice. I have no idea where my life will lead. 

You may look at me and think, “she still has time; she’s only 22.”  But what’s the difference in 22 and 29? No, math wasn’t my favorite subject but I am smart enough to know that the difference of the two numbers is 7, 7 years.

Seven years may seem like a long time but unless you just sat back and twiddled your thumbs during that time, there’s a big chance that those 7 years weren’t wasted. For those 7 years you got to know a little bit more about yourself. You fell down and got your heart broken and learned which roads not to take. No, you may not be where society says you should be, or even where you yourself wanted you to be. But you’re here and you’re trying. That’s something that most of us can’t say. Many of us have given up and taken the handouts that life offered.

Hard work, that’s something that is greatly lacking in todays society.

Here’s the thing, you’re still young; we all are. We don’t know when our lives are going to end, and just because we’ve hit 50 doesn’t mean that we should just sit down and stare at the wall because we aren’t “still young” and “can do anything we set our minds to”. Age has nothing to do with it. The amount of passion you have, the drive that you have to accomplish your dreams, that’s what it has to do with.

So my question to you is: are you going to let the time it takes and the age you are define whether or not you can accomplish your dreams and live your life, or are you going to throw time out the window and let passion drive you?

I don’t think that Methuselah, the man who lived to be 969, really focused on time. If people lived to be 900 in todays world, do you think Thanksgivings would consist of the “when are you going to…” questionnaire? Do you think time would be such a prevalent topic? Or would we finally be able to enjoy the time that we have and not focus on what we haven’t done and how much less time we have to complete it?

Don’t worry; I’ll give you a minute to think about it.