443,617,200 seconds and Counting

11:16 am, Sunday 15/11/15

I have survived the first 16 years of my life. I have lived through 5,868 days, spending each experiencing various emotions, colours and lights. Bring that down to approximately 8,449,803 minutes- taking away the approximate 17,603 of those minutes my eyes have seen darkness within a state of unconsciousness, leaving me with around 7,393,620 minutes I have lived consciously. 

To this day, I have spent 443,617,200 conscious seconds in this world, or there about.

47,520,000 of those seconds I have used up learning to speak, to read, how to write, learning the history of my country, learning the position of the world my country is in, learning how the world was formed, how my body works in this world, and more to the point; learning how to do this equation- during 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, 40 weeks a year, for the past 11 years of my life.

I have 7,992,000 seconds left of learning the appropriate skills needed for the next 2,049,840,000 of my life (if I live to the estimated life expectancy of 81 years old).

There are many directions I could go with this information; some people might say the next 7,992,000 seconds of mine and 3,959,416 other kids in the world my age are the most important- the building blocks to our future selves and the future of this world. Some of us might not give a damn about the next 7,992,000 seconds of our life. I mean, they're just seconds.

 Most of us are lucky enough to live a privileged life- education, equality, freedom of speech… So many privileges most of us take for granted. And to say that 3,959,417 kids my age have it all is not correct. 121 million children worldwide do not have access to education. There are 2.2 billion children in the world and almost every second child lives in poverty, with no access to any basic living rights; no education, no equality, no freedom of speech, not even the basic living needs and resources.

So for those of us who are lucky enough to be spending the next 7,992,000 seconds learning, I hope this changes your perspective about what you have compared to those who don’t have. These next seconds of our lives may or may not shape our future, depending how you utilise your time. And once this small amount of time is up, we will be thrown into the real world and be put to work for the rest of our adult lives. Not as such work, the physical kind, but work as in working on our lives.

I'm only 16. So are 3,959,416 other people. And I don't know about the rest of you 1999 babies, but the rest of my life is a long time and I'm a tad terrified to say the least. Of course I'm ecstatic to be able to fully live my life the way I please pretty soon, but it also scares me. Everyone around me wants to know who I want to be and what I'm going to do… but how do I answer that question when I have not a clue myself? The rest of our life seems like a long time. I guess what I'm trying to say is that for the next 7,992,000 seconds left before I enter the real world, I'm going to learn. I'm going to make mistakes and I'm going to learn from them. For the next short period of time I'm going to play it by ear… I'll take every moment as it comes. And hopefully someday I'll have an idea of who I want to be and what I want to do. I guess I'm never going to stop learning, none of us are. For now though, I'm going to learn through a system called school, with my other 1999 pals, and brace myself for the many seconds of life ahead.

I mean after all, they're just seconds.