A few weekends ago I watched 17 Again, starring Zac Efron, and it really made me wonder what I would do if I were given the chance to be 17 again.
Mind you, I wasn't a basketball star like Efron's character, Mike O'Donnell. In fact, the last time I played basketball was when I was in fifth grade and quit taking piano lessons because I was so sure my basketball career was going to take off.
Now, I'm really missing those piano lessons.
In reality, when I was 17, I was a bigger nerd than I am now, if that is even possible. I didn't participate in extracurricular activities outside of working because my high school was focused on sports. I was pretty much the equivalent of a band geek without the band.
At 17, I was the class clown, literally - they voted.
I didn't care what needed to be done to provide laughs and cheer in other people's day because I was always willing to take one for the team. It figures that as soon as I'd leave high school they would start to offer classes that would have valued my particular brand of humor.
Theater.
That's right, if I had it to do again at this present time I would be in theater. I would be the Dorothy of Oz, the Frenchy in Grease or any other awesome or comical part I could get.
Since I would have an outlet for my creative energy and humor, I would
probably still be a class clown, but I just might not be so over the top about it.
Just like O'Donnell, I hope that I would retain some of the knowledge I have gained over the last four years and be able to use it to make better choices as the 17-year-old me.
Although I might have been daring when it came to entertaining others, I wasn't very daring in other aspects of my life. Maybe with another chance I might start a club, try a sport that uses helmets and doesn't require much coordination or even try to possess less of the teen angst of worrying about what everyone else thinks about me.
After O'Donnell is given the chance to be 17 again, it leads him to re-think his adult life and the decisions he made. Maybe in the end, reflecting on the 17-year-old me is enough to help me make wiser choices as an adult.
And start taking piano lessons again.
- Anna Hartenbach is a junior studying journalism. Tell her what you would do if you were 17 again at ah896106@ohiou.edu.
3 Culture
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