17 Years, 5 Months Down...7 More Months to Go

So...today is Super Tuesday and I am feeling very unimportant and anonymous. Unlike most of my peers, I am unable to let my voice be heard because I have not yet reached "legal" age, whatever that means. It doesn't matter that I've proved myself worthy enough to graduate early from high school and be accepted to an accredited university, nor that I WILL be able to vote to choose our next President in the fall. It doesn't even matter that I am one of a limited amount of teenagers who take their voting responsibilities seriously and follow political news so that they are sure that they will choose the most worthy candidate. All that matters right now is that I am 17 years and 5 months old as of today, 7 months shy of reaching my eighteenth birthday, and thus unable to vote in the primary election.

So I ask...how much more am I really going to mature in 7 more months that would qualify me to have a say in who will be the leader of our beloved United States. On the eve of my eighteenth birthday, will I suddenly have an epiphany or sudden transformation that will make me into a mature adult with a well-rounded education who is concerned about world news and poverty? I am not trying to be disrespectful of the law or irreverent (though I very often am), but I am just not understanding a few things right now.

Okay, I do understand why 18 is the legal age because that is when most people graduate high school and go on to college and a new phase of their lives, beginning to learn to depend on themselves rather than their parents to succeed in life. But why can't a person be able to vote as long as they will reach 18 that same year? Why do I have to wait until it is time to vote for our President and not be able to choose who I would like to vote for in the fall? Well, even if I cannot let my voice be heard in the voting booths today, at least I can let it be heard here even if I am not deriving much of a sense of purpose or satisfaction from it...