Idiocies of Youth

I am young with many places to go,
people to know and meet,
mistakes to make and identities to fake.
And thus I am not concerned if
any of these young others
find much in me; if they don't,
then it is likely I will not find much
in them, either.

There is no time of life more perfect
to be a blind fool as your late teens and early twenties,
forgiven the oversights of adulthood
because you're a rookie and
not pinned with the dismissal of adolescence,
you become the most ignorant important people
in the world. It's true.

I've seen that look and attitude before;
that insecurity that comes with thinking
that life needs to be mapped out early
and then carried into fruition like some
high school school project that's graded;
or that careless wear-and-tear-free mug
that comes with believing that youth keeps
everything else, including danger, at bay,
and that stupidity is a condition
that must be crashed into head-on
like bumper cars driven by irresponsible drunks,
driving the real wheel of life as carelessly as
they would the fake car in the arena.

If I ever get called on being a novice,
I can spout that nonsense about having
a very reasonable excuse for being less-than:
"I am young, what do I know? Let me off the hook
so that one day my rash pigheadedness
will somehow mature into a calm wisdom
full of grace and understanding."

We forget, sometimes, that youth
does not mean idiocy,
that inexperience does not excuse
incompetence for being decent.