So George Washington, as you know, was our first president and one of the major founding forces of our nation. However, you might not know that at age 17 he was made Head Surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia. If you don’t think that isn’t absolutely phenomenal I believe there is something a tiny bit wrong with you. But to my point; Washington was already on to big things at a young age (Comparatively to modern day). He was out in the world doing more than the average 23 year old does now. I understand that this is partially because in this modern age we have to jump through a lot of hoops just to get anywhere. But we should still look at his example.
Now I didn’t write this just to gush about Washington. I wrote this to open a discussion about growing up, and to hear others takes on what is going on with it in the 21st century.
I came to college expecting to find adults. I was proven entirely wrong within two weeks. Hitting 18 years old used to signal the entrance to adulthood. You were expected to act like an adult, take responsibilities on, and be a mature individual. Alas, I think that the age of “Entrance to Adulthood” is more like 28 now.
People seem unwilling to grow up. Like growing up is bad. Now it is necessary to make a clarification here; you can be a full, mature, adult and still have childish moments. Maintaining a small level of childishness at any age and maturity is in my opinion very healthy for your mind. But childishness is unhealthy when you become unwilling to accept responsibilities and evident truths before you. I know of 20 somethings that hang out with high school kids because they see that being popular and cool is more important than having a stable later life. And of course we have all heard of the 30 year olds that still live with their parents (Though in the current economic situation this could be caused by financial instability). But these human beings still rely on their parents almost totally. They have no desire to move on and become their own person or busy themselves with anything more than “who’s prettiest, who has the most sex, who has the most drama in their life, where should we go to get wasted.” They choose to confine themselves in worlds of self-centeredness and ignorance. They don’t want to talk about things like potential solutions to global warming. They are perfectly happy with talking about which Kardashian screwed some random celebrity. I heard something once that I believe can be wholly applied to this.
Your success can be judged by what you talk about:
Unsuccessful: You talk about other people
Moderately Successful: You talk about events.
The Really Successful: You talk about ideas.
So many people fight growing up now because it is hard. It takes work and effort that they don’t want to put in. You don’t just magically wake up one day and boom you’re an adult. It is level of mind where you recognize things like, that the world isn’t always a cheery, fair place. Or that to get anywhere in life you must put effort into it.
Growing up is a necessary part of life. Einstein said, “It is foolish to fear what we cannot avoid.” So instead of fighting growing up, accept it with grace and peace.
diary of a wimpy psycho 