We all keep a list of unforgettable events that are set in just like thumbnails in our life wall. Most of these might be our firsts: the first red mark on the report card, the first major violation committed, the first real kiss, the first alcoholic drink, the first sweet dance, and even the first day in office.

Turning 18, however, is seen differently. It is our first legal milestone in our life. More than just a thumbnail we print and paste, it is a frame-worthy moment overshadowing all the icons and images we have arranged meticulously in our wall. For sixteen can be sugar sweet and seventeen may be sexy, but only turning eighteen gives us the freedom do a host of things that we couldn’t do the day before! Eighteen is such a random and arbitrary age to divide life into two uneven halves. When you wake up on that special day, you will be entitled the right to drive a car, to vote, to get married, to drink and smoke (or not), to own a property, to make a will, to sign in contracts, and to be independent in many ways. At the same time, you start to be covered by the law’s consequences. You can now be sued and sent to jail instead of the juvenile home. In other words, being 18 gives us eligibility to jury duty. As they say in legal parlance, we begin to attain majority. Tough luck! No doubt Spider Man’s Uncle Ben got so famous for his line. ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’

This stage isn’t just a milestone that comes arbitrarily; it is a threshold we will all cross. Tonight, as I traverse the line that divides legality, I look back gratefully to what I have gone through and cross my fingers to what the real world has to offer. I hope I don’t screw up that bad.