by Denise Baer

Created on: August 09, 2009   Last Updated: August 20, 2009

As an immediate response, I would say, "Yes, eighteen is too young to vote," but this response triggers debate amongst other things. If I say eighteen is too young to vote, then eighteen is also too young to fight for our Country. When putting both questions in front of me, "Is eighteen too young to vote?" and "Is eighteen too young to go to war?" my response is clearly yes.

It has been awhile since I was eighteen, but I can still remember the mixture of feelings about the future and what I wanted to be when I grew up. Feeling lost when you cannot decide what to do. Many eighteen year olds go off to college majoring in something their parents or friends advised them to. Or they start working somewhere because they lack money or a desire to go to college.

Are we truly equipped with experience at eighteen to decide our future, whether it be college, job, war or who we want to run our country? When asking many eighteen year olds, they would probably have a hard time remembering who the prior President of the United States was. Granted, there are plenty of U.S. citizens of all ages that would struggle with that question, but that is another issue. To me, I think it is too important of a duty to place on the shoulders of people at an age where they are still trying to find their niche in life.

We all vote for a President that meets our individual principles, such as health, education, war, moral beliefs, etc. along with an overall feel for their competence. While the campaigns are setup to thrash and discredit their opponent, society tries to figure out who possesses more dishonesty and then juggles it with our individual principles. So if we're all voting based on individual principles, overall understanding and trying to decipher dishonesty then how can an eighteen year old vote? What do they know about health? In general, at eighteen were not paying for our health insurance and in most cases our education. They do not know the history of war, the positives and negatives that have resulted from them. And as for individual beliefs, they might have an opinion on a particular topic yet they tend to lead with their hearts then with their heads.

Eighteen was an emotional time in all our lives. We left our younger years with the expectation of figuring out the rest of our lives. Each stage in our lives requires focus: focus on getting a well paying job, focus on having children, focus on retirement, and the focus for an eighteen year old is focus on what you plan to do with your life. Yes, the leader of our Country is one who will help or hinder such a decision, but I do not believe at eighteen they know which leader will help.

Every year we rush the growing process of our younger generations. We expect them to know things we did not know at their age, but the fact is, they are not learning any faster. It is time we let them grow comfortable and enjoy every stage of their lives, and for the older generations to take on the bigger responsibilities.

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