Youth and its uses

Last week I went to meeting being held at a law firm about the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). Normally these things are a speaker behind a podium giving a lecture to a crowd of people who are there because their company is watching what's going on with the policy in question. This one was totally different: the twenty or so of us in attendance sat at a big executive table, and the guy at the head was just kind of leading a discussion.
Problem with this was, everyone else in there was some kind of gray-haired lawyer or professional. Not to mention that it was a meeting held by the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists. And Matt Brandenburgh. And these guys really looked Jewish. Like they might own CNN and FOX and New York Times, and that's just one of em. Talk about intimidation.
But really, it wasn't that bad. Before the talk began, everyone was just casually chatting and getting to know each other, which was very friendly. One guy, on finding out I go to UGA, said that was his neice's first choice, but she's having trouble getting in because she's out-of-state and three or four others had already gotten in from her high school. This basically began a discussion by everyone of how good state schools are, which made me feel kinda special.
But being in these kinds of settings has caused me to reflect on my age and its meaning here in Washington. Everywhere I go, I'm easily the youngest person there. This really has a lot of special uses. Whenever I meet some foundation head or vice president of something or what have you, there's always an obligatory sort of "I'm still undergrad, so don't expect me to know anything about anything." It feels sheepish at first, but really this makes things a lot easier; suddenly no one expects anything from you, and they're just impressed that you're up here at 20 years old hobnobbing with congressmen and other sundry politicos. It seems like my age really has a disarming effect on experienced professionals. They seem to be actually interested in what I'm studying, what my plans are, what I'm doing up here, where I'm living, and how I like it. A lot of them offer whatever help they can, giving me their card or whatever advice they think would be most useful.
At this age, I'm too young to be their competition. In their eyes, I may just be the next JFK or Bob Woodward or *gasp* Bob Dylan. Their future's pretty set in their minds--they know where they're going to be when they retire. With a 20-year-old, there's no upper limit to where I might go, it's all there for the taking. They might just want to be a part of that. All they can tell is that I've taken the initiative to come here and get started.
What's more, being a college student allows you to look scruffy and be late. I usually have hair that is outside the Washingtonian look. That's okay for a student. If I was 23 and starting my career, I'd have to look as serious as possible all the time. Now, I can be late and everyone just thinks, "Oh, he's young and carefree, how wonderful!" And if I'm ever looking really sharp or being very punctual, it makes an even better impression. You can almost do no wrong. There's some magic about that.
I just had to post about that cool feeling. I'm going to have to enjoy it while I'm here; next time, I'm sure this won't be the case. I'll have joined the race, hopefully not to fall on my face, and make a big disgrace. As I've always said, that's just the way the breadcrumb crinkles.