Is everyone as bewildered as I am when they grow up? I woke up one morning, only to find that life was great and people thought I was cool, after a lifetime of eating lunch alone and shirking any major responsibilities or tests of something other than intelligence. I didn't fear for tomorrow, for I trusted the choices I made yesterday.
Does everyone feel this way? Or do some people never notice the point when they transition from adolescent to adult? Can't everyone point out some eyeblink in time when they stopped thinking of themselves as passive receivers of life, and started thinking of themselves as agents (in the social science meaning of the word)?
All us kids remember how good it felt to start shaving, or when our parents trusted us enough to let us go grocery-shopping with the car. How good does it feel, then, to buy your own first car? Or finance a college education without a single cent from your parents? Or define yourself as something other than someone who only experiences life, rather than someone who makes their own decisions and acts on life?
Che Guevara's point happened on the back of a motorcycle. Albert Einstein's point came while slaving away behind the desk at a patent office. Luke Skywalker's point came in the swamps of Dagobah. And my point rose with the sun at 5:30 AM in ankle-deep snow on Platform 5 of the Uppsala central train station, waiting for the morning train to Stockholm. Some people never reach that point. Agency is addictive, though: first puff, you're hooked for life.