"I still have my original social security card signed when I was 13"

Vernon L. Smith’s reflection on still possessing his original social security card, signed when he was thirteen, evokes a sense of historical continuity and personal persistence. The social security card stands as a tangible piece of identity, not only in terms of personal bureaucracy but also as a symbol of belonging to a particular era in American life. Having received it at the age of thirteen suggests a time when the formalities of adulthood, work, legal identification, and official documentation, were approached much earlier compared to present-day standards. This detail hints at the shifting landscape of growing up in America, where markers of responsibility and engagement with governmental systems used to be encountered by adolescents at an earlier stage.

Retaining that original document over decades communicates a meticulous or perhaps nostalgic relationship with the past. For many, such ephemera are lost, replaced, or discarded as life circumstances change and as new documents supplant the old. Smith’s act of keeping the card implies a respect for history, both his own and that of the institutions shaping individual lives. The handwritten signature of a thirteen-year-old upon an official government form also suggests a moment of personal gravity. Such a signature would memorialize a rite of passage from childhood to a broader societal participation, cementing an identity that stretches back across decades.

The remark sheds light on generational differences as well. In contemporary society, the idea of physically safeguarding a fragile paper card for such a span of time seems almost foreign in an age of digital records and rapid change. But for Smith, the card is a relic of stability, a constant thread woven through the fabric of his life. Ultimately, holding onto the card is not simply about preservation of a document, but about maintaining a living connection to youth, history, and the enduring structures of society. Through the simple act of keeping a signed card, Smith highlights the enduring significance of personal history amidst continual change.