To the Point of Absurdity

The age to be an elected official should disappear. After all, a younger person would have to put up a much harder fight to prove that he/she was qualified to do the job. I once said that the age for president should be eliminated and a teacher actually said, “No, we don’t need a 14 year old in office.” I guess she forgot that we elect our president and that dropping the age doesn’t mean that a young person automatically gets the job.

People say the same things about curfews: “We don’t need 13 year olds dealing drugs at 2 am” or “We don’t need teenagers running around causing trouble late at night.” I guess people forget that we have laws against dealing drugs and that the cops should just enforce those laws, instead of the one that makes it a crime to be the wrong age at the wrong time.

As for teens running around at night causing trouble, I also wouldn’t want adults running around causing trouble—or drinking and driving, which is a big problem for the 21-49 group, especially at night. Maybe we should propose curfews for them or make all the bars and liquor stores close early. Maybe we could change the times that they can be out or buy liquor, based on stats for their age. We could give everyone different color licenses.
Pedro P.

Hooray for Brooklyn

I was standing in line at the Brooklyn Public Library to apply for a library card. There was a woman and two small children (probably 3 or 4 years old) in line ahead of me.

When the woman’s turn came, she said she’d like a library card and she wanted to apply for a library card for each of the children as well. The clerk gave her an application, and told her to have the children each fill out an application as well.

“Oh, well, I’ll have to fill it out for them. They can’t fill out this application.”

“The rule is that if you can’t fill out an application by yourself, you can’t have your own card.”

Gee, that was simple. No reference to age. A reasonable test that measures skills relevant to the privilege to be granted. Why do most public institutions have so much trouble figuring it out.
Chris F.