Legally, I'm an adult. The law specifies that a person becomes an adult when the reach 'the age of majority,' the age of majority (in most States) being 18 years old. This means that my parents can't tell me what to do, that I can vote, and that I can be charged as an adult (therefore, I'd go straight to a federal penitentiary and orange really isn't my color.) But in reality, I've learned (here in college) that many of my fellow co-eds are not adults, that even acting like children would be a step up from some of the behavior that I've seen.
I think being an adult has a lot more than surviving for 18 years. I believe that being an adult has more to do with how you act, how you carry yourself, how you speak, how you handle the unexpected, how you deal with loss, rejection, and happiness, and how you treat others around you.
I have a friend, Taylor (shown below in post entitled "Switzerland, The Paradox."), Taylor is a very cute girl and often flirts with anyone with perfect (or even less than perfect) abs and stubble. Alex is the stoner next door. He's obnoxious and often won't leave any of us alone. He has a particular (almost creepy) fondness of Taylor. The worst part? HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND!!! Becca, now there's a catch, this (very nasty, scratch that, very very nasty) girl is a couple years older than Taylor and I, and a few STD's short of Ke$ha.
Last week, Alex gave Taylor a back massage. That must have really really upset Becca, because when Taylor was walking up the stairs and Becca was walking down Becca said "Oh look, it's the b***." (or something to the equivilant).
Taylor calmly passed by her, walked straight up to our apartment, and told us what happened calmly and with a smile on her face. She said, "It's okay, I'm used to being called a whore since high school, just because I have a lot of friends." (Messed up, right!?)
Taylor was the adult in this situation, sure, maybe she shouldn't have let him give her a back massage, but that was in the past. She didn't let Becca's very rude (very uncalled for) comment get the best of her! She was in control of her actions and her mouth, and she's definitely on the moral high road in this situation. And she's definitely not a whore, or a b***. (Okay? Stupid, disease ridden Becca.)
I believe that an adult is someone with self control, even in front of his/her enemies. An adult is someone who learns from their mistakes. He/she is someone who can make educated, long-term decisions. An adult carries themselves with dignity and self respect. An adult learns how to deal with rejection, unhappiness, and loss.
Today marks 2 months exactly since The Boy committed suicide. It still hurts when I think about it, it hurts bad. I cried by myself for a while today. Then I put on a happy face, because that's what he'd want, because that's who he was, he was happy. The Boy was more of an adult than I was, most of the time. He gave me great advice, often.
I'm trying to become an adult, I'm trying to look at others' examples and learn how I should act. I'm always learning about myself, about how I deal with happiness, rejection and loss. I try to treat others respectfully, and I try to carry myself with self respect.
I think there will always be a child inside each of us, one that gets really excited Christmas morning, one that doesn't want to calm down, and one that will want to act selfish on our birthday.
Just because we will all still be young at heart, doesn't mean that we should act like children.
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