Growing Up

[jarandhel]

Growing up is a strange process... our bodies hit the point where we are physically old enough to be parents ourselves when we are around 13 to 15 years old. The US government acknowledges us as adults a few years later when we are 18. Drinking establishments in the US acknowledge our maturity at 21. And then there are people who are 26 or 27 who speak about mistakes they made when they were 23, and which they supposedly are just now getting around to possibly correcting, as part of the normal process of growing up.

I wonder what the world would be like if more people tried to learn the lessons of childhood by the time they've reached earlier benchmarks of adulthood? I know people are living longer and longer these days, but I don't see that as necessitating a proportionate increase in the time spent developing into maturity.

Something to ponder...

Comments

[ebonhost.livejournal.com]

Is your comment about the mistakes, or the lateness in going to correct them? If it was the mistakes, well, those happen all throughout life. That is part of the process of growing and learning, which truly never ends. Lateness in going to correct mistakes, well, it depends. Some people have a hard time admitting they were wrong. Some mistakes hurt so much that you need to not think about them for a while. Some people- well, it takes a long time to grow up, and longer I think if people tend to live at home with their parents without moving out, which preserves a sense of safety in a lot of situations (talking when rent/food/etc isn't expected to be paid, kid not expected to do any kind of work- not in your situation.) I know I didn't truly learn what the "real world" was like until I left home. Unfortunately... it only made me more bitter. :P

Re:

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

More about considering those mistakes just part of "growing up" in such a dismissive manner... that implies that the person doesn't really consider themselves to have been an adult at the time those mistakes were made, which is troubling in it's implications since the person was 23 years old at the time. It also seems to indicate a distinct failure to take those mistakes seriously, in my opinion, when you can turn around and say "oh well, you can't grow up without making a fair share of mistakes". I do admit, though, this might bother me less if it was a different person making the statement. I do have issues with this individual.