Aged and Ageless

Posted on February 3, 2004 19:50 PM EST

The age factor is a little dubious sometimes or a lot dubious most of the times depending on who you are. Take sex or alcohol rules for instance. Laws in certain places say that a person becomes eligible for adult consensual sex or independent alcohol consumption at a certain age. Individually speaking, what exactly changed on the birthday of the person that makes her/him ready for sex or alcohol? How exactly is a guy who drinks himself silly at the bar on his 21st birthday different from what he was just the previous day?

The simple and straight answer is that the law has to draw the line somewhere and age is the most unambiguous way to make sure that underage people don't get harmed. I buy that argument. But in individual cases, it can make a huge difference to lives.

For example, recently I read about some guy in his 30's who got prosecuted on child-molestation charges, because he had sex with a 17 year old girl. 17 years is legally underage in most states of the US. The twist to the tale is that, this girl had a history of sex (including anal sex) with a boy from her school. If she had been just a few more months older, this guy would not be in the dumps now.

Or consider the interesting hypothetical case that was put forward by an American friend who first explained to me these legalities of age. For the more imaginative of you and for the record, let me state that I was not thinking of "going out" with any underage person when she explained it to me. We just happened to be driving by a prison and started talking of law and lawsuits and such. Anyway, the hypothetical case is about a 17-year-old guy who is 8 months older than his 17-year-old girlfriend. The guy is quite safe with his girlfriend until he turns 18. Once he is 18, he cannot make-out with her for 8 more months until she is 18 too. If he does, he could be charged for molestation of a minor and sent to jail!

My own run-in with age comes when people ask my age. It's somewhat understandable when people ask the age for formal records like the driver's license or the passport, etc. But what about when people ask the age for reasons, such as trying to assess your personality based on your age? Or to draw whatever conclusions people who ask the age draw from answers given? That is what gets me! For, in my case (as in many other people I am sure), age is just one of many factors (that too a small one), which contribute to the personality.

So, when such people ask my age, I don't feel right answering them straight. Why should I stick to 27 years of age, simply for being born in 1976? What does being a 27-year-old mean? If I were to go purely by my personality, the number 27 doesn't seem to stick well. My physical appearance is certainly older than 27 as most people have told me. My mind sometimes works as if it's even more older than my older looks. My heart is simply as old as the age of the mood and the moment - sometimes I am 5 years old, sometimes 55, sometimes 500! As for my soul, it is timeless. As if that's not enough, Realage.com says I am 23 years old! Now how can a man say what his meaningful age is vis-à-vis any aspect of his personality?

Oh, let me state for the record that my hesitation in giving out my age has nothing to do with the well-known vanity of older people. My hesitation is simply because of not being able to find an age that suits me by the stereotypical definitions. Since I like to be a stereotype breaker, I go ahead and tell them, I am aged and ageless!

Are there other aged and ageless kids out there who wanna come and play with me? :-P