The Invincible Twenties- An Old Young Man's Problem... For Some People

The Invincible Twenties- An Old Young Man’s Problem… For Some People

First off, let me say, I’m writing this as a twenty-year-old male. All of my reasoning has been done through my eyes, thus will be slightly biased in young men’s favor. That being said, I will attempt to give a balanced view of the situation. 

Now then, the viewpoint of mothers:

From the ages of 19-26 men have an opinion of themselves, the opinion that that nothing can harm them, no matter how stupid, dangerous, or crazy the activity. For example, I once heard tell of a twenty-one-year-old, who decided that surfing on the top of his van while driving on the highway would be “Sweeeeeeet!” and that it would be even “Sweeeeeeet!”-er if he jumped at the last minute just as he went into a tunnel so as to grab on and do a pull up…. while travelling at 50 miles an hour. Needless to say it was a little more gravely gravelly he first pictured it. This is what’s known in the mother’s handbook as “real nuts” for lack of harsher four letter words. I have to say that I agree. This is the kind of thing that goes in the file labeled “stupid”. However it can also probably be cross referenced with the phrase “alcohol induced” and/or “event’s that began with the phrase ‘I bet you can’t…’ or ‘hold my beer and watch this’”. In a mother’s eyes, anything that a man in his 20’s does that is remotely dangerous goes in this file. Unfortunately that’s just not the case. Lots of the less run-of-the-mill things that guys like to do while in their twenties (road trip across the country, go bungee jumping, pee into the wind etc.) is born from a desire to live a little bit. Everyone has had this desire at one point. Maybe a little bit of rebellion, maybe just to shake up the normal routine or maybe it’s so that they can experience some of the mysteries this world has to offer.

The viewpoint of emergency room nurses:

Female- Really? You just decided to do this? Are you kidding me? What is wrong with your demographic? What is wrong with men? Why can’t they just think about their actions ahead of time? Don’t they realize they’re going to end up in the emergency room with broken legs if they try to jump off of their roof into a pair of blue jeans? You just couldn’t resist the pull of youtube stardom? You have totally ruined your life from this!

Male- Dude. Sweet. Wish I could have seen it. By the way you won’t be walking for a while.

This doesn’t give us much insight except that the basic behaviors of men in their twenties bugs women a lot more than men.

My viewpoint (aka. The viewpoint of the single twenty-year-old who has done a few stupid things that bug his mother, but nothing so bad to make her disown him):

I have recently begun to enjoy taking more risks than in the past. I will admit this. However I have reasons for doing so and defenses for the usual arguments against such behavior. First of all, my motivation for most of the things I like to do that involve “risk” is either because it’s fun, or I’ll gain something from the experience. (That’s why they call it “experience”) I’ll gain either knowledge, or skill, or courage or faith or… I’m sure you just thought of another word to go in this list. The point is there is some benefit in taking a risk, otherwise no one would take any.

But why is it that men in their twenties take more than other age groups? This is my thinking.

Firstly, men in their twenties have fewer ties to this world than other age groups. They have reached the age where they leave their parent’s home. They feel independent and responsible for themselves and that their parents should no longer feel responsible for them. However, they have not reached the stage in life where they have a family and are responsible for other human beings. The most extreme way of saying it is that if they die, there’s no one (in their mind) who will miss them. Or at the very least, they will not be shirking any responsibilities if they were to kick the bucket today. All bets are off, and they won’t be placing any more bets for a little while. Obviously there will be some grief on the parts of people they knew, but nowhere near as much as when they are older and their families will miss them as a provider (of wisdom, money, forgiveness etc.) or when they were younger and their parents would miss them as a provide-ee of the same. There is no other stage in life where a man will have fewer people to worry about upsetting, while possessing the physical ability to do something “really stupid”. This makes the twenties a prime time to test the limits, so to speak. This leads to my next point. Men in their twenties are in the peak of their physical ability. In general, men in their twenties have more strength speed and endurance than other sex or age groups. If there were any time in your life that you wanted to try some “stupid things” and take some risks, wouldn’t you want it to be in the time of your life that you can most rely on your body to work the best it possibly can? It’s only natural for us to push the physical limits when the physical limits are further away than they ever will be again.

My final reason may be stupid in and of itself, but hey I’m twenty, I’ve gotta do something stupid in this essay. My final reason for taking risks is that if we didn’t we would live long and safe lives. I don’t want that. There’s an Internet meme out there that says, life isn’t supposed to be a safe trip where you arrive in the grave without a scratch on you, you should come screeching in with a totaled car saying man what a ride… or something like that… I’m paraphrasing… the point is… I don’t want to show up at my funeral with all my joints working properly, my teeth in my mouth and my limbs still attached. I want a cremation to be necessary not to upset the guests. :-P… maybe not that extreme, but you get the idea. If I don’t go try some stuff, how else am I going to have stories about how grandpa got that big scar on his arm with which to scare the grandchildren. When my son asks me what the stupidest thing I’ve ever done was, I want to be able to tell him that one time I let a fire cracker explode while lying on the back of my hand, just because somebody bet me five bucks I wouldn’t. I don’t want to have to tell him that I once used the word literally incorrectly.  It’s the stories that we twenty year olds are looking for, because stories are what make a lifetime worth sharing. That is why the next time someone dares me to eat a five pound bucket of butter I will be grabbing a spoon. That is why I will eventually utter the phrase “I can jump that far.” And that is why I will not turn down my friends next time they suggest we drive to New York City in 24 hours to get a hotdog, just so we can say we did.