Seventeen

“It wasn't supposed to be this way. The artists, and the scientists, and the poets...none of them fit in at seventeen. You're supposed to get past it. Adults, they see kids killing kids and they know it’s a tragedy because they used to be those kids. The bullies and the beaten and the loners. You're supposed to get past it. You're supposed to live long enough to take it back. Just take it all back.”

That is a quote from Marvin (Mouth) McFadden on the show One Tree Hill. It was right after the school shooting episode. Strangely, I found this episode and this show very easy to relate to. Yes, I know that the show itself has some really crazy plots and story lines, but it is almost like each character plays a phase that teenagers go through. I really like this quote because it is so true. Nobody turns out to be who they were in high school because high school is when you are supposed to be figuring things out. The mistakes we make and the choices that seem huge eventually fade away. In the whole scheme of life, high school is just a small dot on the timeline.

We make all these plans, and we think we know just how our lives are gonna turn out until something happens that we didn't see coming. At seventeen we all think we are invincible. It almost takes a huge change that you didn't see coming to make you realize that you aren't. Most of the time, that time is college when kids become adults, but for some of us it happens a lot earlier. Not on purpose, but sometimes things like the death of a family member, a car accident, or moving to another state can make you realize that you aren't immune to life's twists and turns.

But seventeen. You are too old for high school, but too young for college. You can drive, but you can't vote. You can go to prom, but you can't go to bars. You are limited, but free at the same time. It is a crazy concept, but seventeen is one of the craziest years mentally, emotionally, and physically. So I guess it makes sense that some of them don't make it. That teen depression rates are only climbing. That kids become bullies and the bullied. It all makes sense because we all think we are invincible and we are ready to do everything we are told we aren't ready for. When these seventeen year olds try to find their place in the world and they can't, well that's when life gets hard.

Seventeen is a crazy year, but it is a beautiful crazy. Bask in it. Enjoy it. Feel it. But while you are at it, try not to slip through the cracks. Seventeen doesn't last forever.

“It's the oldest story in the world. One day you're 17 planning for someday and then quietly, without you ever noticing, someday is today. And then someday is yesterday. And this is your life.”