Terrific post, Alex. I hope you may be able to encourage a few of your peers to snap the twine.

I have always been grateful for the times when, during my youth, I had opportunities (and took them) to foray into the adult world. At twelve I needed cash for a bike trip, so I started a pizza business. The bike trip itself was dangerous enough now that I look back on it; we rode the roads without helmets, sometimes sharing the thoroughfares with 18 wheelers.

Somewhere around that age I took a job watching the dog which belonged to some friends of our family. I spent hours wandering through the frozen woods with that bloodthirsty brute (he would attack almost anyone, and even bit my brother). One day I fell through a shelf of ice into Lake Michigan, hauled myself out with great effort, slogged home drenched from the waist down, dragged the dog out of yet another dogfight, and let myself into our friends' empty house to haul off my boots and pick the ice from my pants and socks.

If this seems like a thirty-something fellow has lapsed into reminiscing or even bragging, its because I have. But that is my point. I am proud of moments like those. I cannot get more of them now, and I wish there had been even more of them.

Now I have a ten year old son, and everyday I watch him, hoping for him to have a life built upon defining moments where courage comes to exist where none was before. Youth is an amazing time.
Joel | Homepage | 08.26.05 - 4:47 pm | #

Dear Alex,
I'm writing an article for our church on the issue of adolescence. I'm curious as to where you learned your critical perspective. Could you put me on to some good books/articles on the subject?

gratefully,
Rev. Stan Pace,
Lafayette, LA
Stan Pace | 10.05.05 - 2:41 am | #

This was the first article of this blog that I read. Coming back to it, I see why I was so impressed. Your writings are so fun to read, yet I learn so much at the same time. Thanks for sharing your talent!

Sarah
sarah | 12.03.05 - 4:59 pm | #

Enjoying my first read of your writings. Had to wonder, though, why you didn't include (here) the relative ages of Washington, and the others who stepped up at a young age to do the work of an adult. What were the life spans during each of their lifetimes? Can you come up with such a number? I'd much rather know how old they were in today's years, as it seems more pertinent to your editorial than how much Washington earned in today's dollars. Off to Part 2.
B. Allan Ross | 12.14.05 - 2:47 pm | #

Luv it!!!!

Andrew Joyce
MK in Brazil
Andrew Joyce | 04.16.06 - 9:27 am | #

You write beautifully. And I believe you actually believe what you are saying. I'm having trouble with the leaders of our country who use people like you and their faith, to gain power, and then destroy all that is God's creation. Namely, Bush, Rove, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Cheney, et al. So what is your sector's excuse for bringing us such hell-bent-leaders? Just curious.
Erin | 06.24.06 - 9:02 am | #

Great post. I had similar thoughts back when I was in school and chomping at the bit to do more than someone my age was allowed to do. Now that my oldest is 8 I want to give him as much opportunity as he shows himself capable of handling.

Allan above mentions Washington's relative age. I was wondering the same thing myself but determined that the answer would have marginal usefulness. Thinking in those terms can artificially hold us back. We could die tomorrow or live another 50 years, the same view Washington had without our 20/20 hindsight. We should make the most of each day. And if we have a longer life then we will be able to accomplish even more than he did.
Tad | Homepage | 07.25.06 - 12:37 pm | #

....I'm sorry, but the story at the beginning of this post, I must call bullshit on. You see, I've had the honor of working with elephants in Thailand, they're the same kind of elephant used in India, and the training practices are similar. yet I have watched fully trained, perfectly loyal and friendly elephants tear down the trees they have been chained too in the night, for no other reason than they wanted to. I find it difficult to believe that an elephant of any kind would allow itself to be bound by a twig and some string, especially considering that the elephants I've worked with are much better trained than any you'd find in India.
Hager | 08.28.09 - 4:30 pm | #