Column: You’re only as old as you feel, age be damned
There comes a time in everyone’s life when reality hits them like a ton of bricks and they realize how old they have become.
In our youth, we don’t think of such things, thinking instead we’ll be young forever and aging is for the old.
But as we get older, certain events force us to reflect on days gone by and wonder how we have been spending our time growing as people.
Little things like being carded at a restaurant after ordering a drink feels great shortly after turning 21, but after a few years pass and the servers stop asking or faintly glance over the ID, it feels odd.
I know I’m not young anymore, but I never really felt that out of place based on my age until today when I discovered one of my professors is three years younger than I am.
Fortunately for the both of us he’s not that old either, but it still feels a little awkward.
For a few brief moments, it was horrifying until I convinced myself that it’s not entirely distressing.
It’s not like I floated through life doing absolutely nothing until I came to Central Michigan University.
When my professor was preparing to graduate high school, I was fresh out of Army boot camp deploying for the invasion of Iraq.
While he was learning about foreign cultures in college, I was exploring Europe while stationed in Germany.
Where I lacked the formal education many of my old high school classmates pursued, I made up for in worldly experience.
Every day was a class of its own while I was in the Army.
For social sciences, we trained how to adapt to different cultures so not to offend village. Math class was declared a success after a supply drop lands where you wanted it after calculating an exact position, adjusting for wind.
Do I think I’m better than my classmates here? No, just a little more experienced.
I may have taken a different path to get where I am today, joining the thousands of other young students here at CMU, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
I know I’m not the only non-traditional student here, but I might be the only one who forgets he’s old.
I guess the old saying really is true: you’re only as old as you feel, and I’m still feeling pretty good.
Nathan Clark served from 2002 to 2010 in the U.S. Army during the Iraq War. He is 31.
