Thursday, April 15, 2010
And to you.
Today we discussed the idea of coming of age in our society today. Many people feel that we need to have a set age where one moves from childhood and teen years to adulthood, meaning that at a certain point everyone would be given the burden of certain responsibilities. This is a fair enough point in its own, except that you can not describe one group of people in one word, we are all different. This difference between people is what makes the world work, some people are more mature than others, and some people are more dependent on others than another "adult" would be. The answer to the question "At what age do you become an adult?" Is one that does not have one clear answer my opinion on the idea of adulthood is a notion that is unnecessary. If one feels that they can handle the responsibilities of the world without help does not mean they must fall into this word "adult". What I am really trying to say is that there is no word that can describe upward of 1 million people as a whole it is impossible; just because you are a certain age does not mean you are the same as the other people your age maturity or responsibility wise.
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I think I agree with you for the most part. From an emotional and mental standpoint, there is no real way to define "adulthood" or say that an entire group of people becomes an adult at the same time. I'm pretty sure my 16 year old sister acts more adult-like than I do sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHowever, from a legal standpoint, for the sake of simplicity, you have to lump every one together. Can you imagine what would happen if they didn't? "Oh, this 40 year old man is still a child inside so he needs to be tried in juvenile court." Yuck.
So then, let me ask you, where do you draw the line? At some point, no matter what level of emotional maturity, people are considered adults. Where do you think that turning point is?
I would say this turning point would be death. I say this because if we "clump" everyone together we will just be asking for the disasters we do today. As for the legal problems I don't see an exact reason that all of the requirements of the world need to be placed on a person all at once. An example of this working is that a person once they reach age 16 are allowed to take up the task of driving, 18 they are given the legal "adulthood" status, and finally 21 they are not prohibited from consuming alcoholic beverages. This system does alright for these small responsibilities of the world. If we wouldn't go by a system that places life's burdens upon one person all at once and thought of adulthood as a time of growing from age 16 when you get your drivers licenses until your death where you had your responsibilities upon either the government or your heir there would be no need for the word "adult".
ReplyDeleteI think it's death too. Way to stick it to the man James. Way to be.
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