Sixteen
Yes, I am 16.
I am 16 and driven.
I am 16 and goal-oriented.
I am 16 and capable.
I am 16 and passionate.
I am 16 and motivated.
I am 16 and curious.
I am 16 and outspoken.
I am 16 and experienced.
I am 16 and realistic.
I am 16 and important.
I am 16 and impactful.
I am 16 and proud.
I am 16. "You're just 16." No. I am 16 and I am proud of my age and what I have done, am doing, and will do. My age is nothing that will ever inhibit me from following my dreams and from finding who I am. My age will never hold me back from innovating, learning, or speaking. My age will always be just a number and the time that it implies will merely translate into some wear and tear that I will overcome day by day, step by step. Too often I'm shrugged off or ignored because of my age, because I'm too "young." Young people are passionate: we are capable and intelligent and we have so much we want to do AS young people. I want to live my life day by day, doing what I believe is necessary for myself, the environment, and the people I encounter. I never want to waste time and I never want to think that because I am young no one will listen. We as young people, middle-aged people, elderly people all have something to say with the amount of wisdom and knowledge that we have accumulated. We each have our own perspectives and because we are a certain age or in a specific age group should never imply that we are all thinking the same exact thoughts in the same perspective. It should mean that we all took the time that we were given on this earth in different ways and we have different stories that only WE can tell. The story I have to tell is different from that of the young person or elderly person sitting next to me. That is one of the most important things I could ever realize, in my opinion: that we all have different ways of seeing this world and nothing is "right or wrong" but it's rather an interesting demonstration of our background, experiences, and drive.
I have a story that only I can tell, and I'm getting ready to tell it.