When I grow up, I want to be (INSERT JOB). Isn’t that what kids tell each other? That when they grow up they have these great plans on what they want to spend the rest of their lives doing? Well, welcome to the real world. Welcome to the World. It keeps getting richer, keeps getting sadder, and suicide rates are still climbing. Apparently kids that have come before have grown up and discovered that being an adult does not give you unlimited freedom and they may not like what the future has in store for them.
Adolescents always seem to look up to adults as well. One day you’re a teenager drinking beer and smoking pot with a friend, the next day you’re the police officer arresting them. What is that magical transformation that seems to take place overnight? I’m not sure at what point kids become teenagers and then finally gain the right to adulthood. Is it really 18? Is there some scientific reasoning that it is a new stage in our life? Well, I sure wish I knew a hell of a lot more about life. Is there some point later in life when you feel like having kids that makes you an adult? Right now I know that I don’t have the patience to raise a new generation (if I adopted). So when is the book of knowledge going to integrate itself into my brain so that I can snag that dream career, answer all of my kids’ questions and live happily ever after??
Now I think I’m starting to realize that ‘adult’ is quite an arbitrary name. In fact the grownups we look up to are no different than us, they just have a different angle on life after more trial-and-error. I look at my peers working together on a science project, then I look at Israel and Palestine trying to compromise together and live in peace. So why can the latter not work for a common good when students can put their heads together to create something? Ok, ok, students are working for a grade and their teacher’s approval. But…wait…the other two countries would be working for world peace and the betterment of our planet. So which is the more important goal? And yet, is it countless grades that have been attained or a real solution in the Middle East that has been obtained?
There is no adulthood. It’s simply degrees of experience that people have and the will behind their want. People are selfish. If we’re willing to sacrifice ourselves it’s news because that’s not normal behavior. That’s why there’s no world peace right now. That’s why there’s a general lack of community across the globe. That’s why we’re worried about who has ‘weapons of mass destruction’. That’s why we have wars. That’s why we’ve effectively created Hell on earth.
If people started behaving like the ‘adults’ that children idolize, maybe the world would be a better place. Except that when you grow up you realize that the golden image you saw was only a brightened reflection of the real tarnished personalities of the people around you. Your eyesight and perspective on the world gets so much better, too much better possibly. You start seeing the cracks. And even after they’re pointed out, these ‘adults’ that we rely on can’t even manage to put their heads together and their problems down and solve something for the greater good.
Is anyone ready to be an adult nowadays? Anyone?
I am!!! I love being an adult. I hated childhood. It was depressing and painful (mostly due to other children). I have to admit though that happiness in adulthood didn’t hit until I began setting aside my selfishness. Which, by the way, I struggle with everyday… it’s just that now I know I can mess up and still be loved. I live to please an audiance of one, or three in one, however you want to look at it…. that is freedom!!!!!!
And pride. Whew!!!! Boy did I think I knew it all. sometimes still do…. I guess I still have some growing up to do.
ps. Carrying a baby is awesome!!!!!
I believe that the term “adult” is society’s label for a threshold in life. Its purely subjective and mis-used for self-promotion. In its pure form, when you separate yourself from wanting verification from others, be truly happy with who you are, and when you realize that you don’t have anyone to look up to and you are on your own, you can make decisions and be confident with them. This is not being an adult, its being grown up.