I recently had a discussion with my friend about growing up, and I wanted to put it on the table for more opinions. What happened between my Sophomore year and high school graduation was a maturation. As you know, for me, it was a heart-breaking, nature-creating truth-realizing few years for me, and sadly, almost all of my maturity was not from self-realization. Many different people, young and old, taught me through my mistakes how a grown up was meant to act. Now I'm not the kind of person that supports normalcy, at least in a pop-cultural way, but I have a firm belief that when it comes to human interaction, a middle ground must exist. The success of an individual through business and intimate relations, whether it be a client or a friend, can only be obtained by human interaction. We live in a world with more than 6 billion people. 6,000,000,000. How many of those people are different from the other? Every single one. How, then, can an enterprise be established, or a friendship be forged, without the ability to begin on a middle ground? I think growing up helps us know just how to act on that middle ground.
I went to a barbecue a couple weeks ago. It was for the company that organizes Pokemon video game and card tournaments in Utah. What I found was that 75% of the people there, regardless of age, could have been officially classified as socially awkward. This is just from my opinion, and I know I'm not a judge of persons. But it really stuck into my mind the idea of growing up.
Just to kinda put the cap on this, I want to give my own definition to the term "growing up". I believe growing up is not to be completely mature, but to know when it is appropriate to be immature.
I've always seen having a few childish traits is a necessity of personal growth. "Growing up" seems to have a bit of a negative connotation, because people associate it with becoming mundane and disconnected with imaginative qualities, but I say if you become that dull, mundane person you haven't grown up. You've grown down, if you will.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest dramatic change in trait that SHOULD occur (but often doesn't occur) in becoming an adult is the quality of thought and reasoning. When you think about it, the ultimate human goal is to achieve happiness. Essentially, everything we do is to attain that goal, when you think about it. Even something as small as getting a drink of water is essentially accomplishing a goal to retain comfort. That is where quality of thought and reasoning comes into play: Through experimentation and discovery we have obtained KNOWLEDGE about well-being. I propose that this the single purpose of formal and nonformal education.
Now, people will argue that there is also a change in behavior is also a key part of "growing up", and it is, but that is only a subdivision of quality of thought. Learning to fit within the boundaries of social acceptance is another way we try to retain comfort, which, once again, is accomplished through thought and reasoning.
The mistake lies where people think "growing up" means leaving behind fun. This ideology comes from a very childish understanding of adulthood, when they see their parents work 24/7. In my opinion it should always be a goal for an adult to carry "childish" pleasures in some way or another.
In other words, you can never be too old to play a little Pokemon, or football, or to be a furry (in the right place and time).
Working and enjoying it is called work-ethic, working for necessity is called "workaholism".
As for your middle-ground theory, yes. There does seem to be a stage between casual and formal behavior in any relationship with another person where they are most comfortable interacting until they become further associated. Balance is important in everything.
Despite the phrase "everything in moderation" being flagrantly contradictory to itself, it really is the truth.
I promise to stop posting pages of response material on your blog.
Signed,
The Artificial Craftsman
Hey, Jesus said "be as a little child", or something like that. Let's go buy some RC cars and race around the campus, ok?
ReplyDeleteAlso, don't leave one thought out. I like long posts.