Exist or Live

"Let not young souls be smothered out before
They do quaint deeds and fully flaunt their pride.
Not that they starve, but starve so dreamlessly
Not that they die, but that they die like sheep" (Vachel Lindsay)

Some of you may have heard about the teen sailor Abby Sunderland, she was in the news recently with her failed attempt to sail solo around the world. What stuck me in my conversations, reading articles, blogs and comments was the overall sense of disapproval. Everyone railed against the risk, the uncaring parents, the futility of the attempt, the crazy indulgence.

To many people, what she was doing at the mere age of 16 was crazy, but her brother did sail around the world at 17, and there is another 17 year old Aussie girl who is making the attempt as well. A 13 yr old boy just summited Mt. Everest a few months ago.

I have the utmost respect for the Sunderlands. Teenagers should be treated with respect and be granted the freedom to experiment and learn, provided that they have shown evidence that they possess the maturity to be trusted.

In 340, King Philip left his 16 years old son with the power to rule Macedonia in his absence as regent; the Thracian tribe rebelled and were a danger to the country. Alexander assembled an army, led it against the rebels, and with swift action defeated them, captured their stronghold, and renamed it after himself to Alexandropolis.

Just like Alexander, don’t raise anyone to prolong childhood far longer than needed. After all I don't see anyone complaining about the 16 yr models, nor even worse the 18 yr olds who are sent off to war to kill.

There are explorers and there are the folded hands types who sit on their rumps twiddling thumbs, and cry about the dangers out there in the real world. After all what age is too young to follow your dreams. And of course what age is too old? the teenage writer, the young philospher, the middle aged person who goes back to college, the homemaker who after years go back to work, the entrepreneur who leaves a cushy job to follow his dream. Everyone who walks to a different drum beat. I believe you should attempt and try everything you can in the short lives we all have.

To end, paraphrasing the words of a great and a much better writer.

The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many who criticize the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no unhealthier being, no man less worthy of respect. Its despicable to look with contempt at the achievements of others, to hide from others and from themselves their own weakness.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where someone could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasm, the great devotion; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.