Caution: Not suitable for children...

Sixteen years of age.

Once one reaches eighteen, they are considered an adult. Ever stopped to think about that one? Age is simply a number. And because studies have proven that the majority of the uneducated, misled, and misfit society cannot handle "adult" things until the age of eighteen, the rest of the world has taken to condemning the underaged, using their years as a prison, keeping them from what they are allowed to experience.

Well, hypocrites of the world, think about it this way. A child of six or seven watches his/her parents physically fighting. Or, a child sees his/her father in a drunken rage, or his/her mother stay at home all day, unable to be effective in the world. Think about the child of divorce. You can send the child to therapy and try to make them understand that it's not the child's fault that mommy and daddy split up. Really. You think your child is dumb enough to think that? No no, oh wise parents, it's not the divorce that tears your kid up. It's the loss of both parents that slowly wears on the child who, oblivious to the deterioration, goes on like life is supposed to be that way. Really, it's any kid who has had their parents taken, by divorce, death, drugs, or simple abandonment. A child has to face the trials of growing up - middle, junior high, and high school. Whether they have the support they need or not. What does one do in a situation of great desperation? Give in, or do it oneself, whether it's the "right way" or not.

We are not weak. We are stubborn. And we do not give up.

Eight, nine, ten years down the road, you parents wish to control us. You say to us, "You are not an adult, I still control you. You are still my child." I'm sorry? Did you say child? Do you know what we were like as children? As teens? Did you bring us through the hard times? Can you really know what's best for us when you don't even know us as people? Hmm...

Now.
Tell us.
Where does childhood end and adulthood start? Agreed, it should be eighteen. No one should have to deal with shit like that until at least that age. But where has it been...?

And you want to tell us that we're not capable of experiencing these things. Feeling these things. That we can't handle ourselves and our emotions.

No. We refuse to accept all of the pain and none of the reward. If you wanted to treat us like children, then you should've been there when we were.

But, we must say thank you. Thank you for trusting us with the task of shaping ourselves as people. Because now, we know who we are. We are us. We are not clones of you; we are not who you want us to be. We love who we are. We love each other. And we love our lives.
We can be what you never were.

We live in the moment.
We love every minute.
We are the future.