Growing Up

Every child wants to grow up.  Most children do so. Only then can they understand the blessings of childhood.   I turn 18 today, and I've been thinking about growing up a lot over the past few weeks.  The number 18 is arbitrary. Throughout history, there have been 15 year old adults, and today there are too many 30 year old children.  The number is not what's important, but maturity. However, reaching the social benchmark of 18 years is what provoked these thoughts. 

     Childhood is a beautiful and interesting time.  Children are full of potential, but there is not much that they really are.  They have no specific role in life, so virtually every role is open to them. To be a child is to be the embodiment of the possibilities of life.  It's impossible to tell what a child will do, be it in the next hour or the next 30 years. They have very little identity beyond being a child, but the potential to have almost any identity in the future. This is why children are constantly learning.  It takes an enormous amount of information to build and shape that potential. Children are always growing, not just physically, but intellectually and in personality. Childhood cannot last forever. Despite their potential, children are immature, irresponsible, and dependent.  This state of potential cannot last forever. Eventually we must sacrifice the potential of childhood for the actuality of adulthood.

     Children are irresponsible and dependant.  These things keep them reliant on their parents.  This is often the reason children want to grow up.  They want the independence and freedom of adulthood.  They want to be able ti do what they choose, without having to ask for their parents' approval, and this is good.  Children should aspire to be independent. Not relying on other people to support your existence is necessary for an adult.  However, independence is not alone. It is inextricably tied to responsibility. A person cannot be free if they can't be responsible for themselves.  This is why children cannot be independent, however much they might want to. They do not have the sense of responsibility necessary to support their independence.  The irresponsibility of children is their potential. They have no real duty. The responsibilities a person takes on is the actuality of adulthood. This is growing up.

     So then, children embody potential in their lack of responsibilities, and people are defined in adulthood by their responsibilities.  Adults have their duties, while children have not yet discovered theirs. As I move forward, I want to strive for responsibility and independence, the actuality of adulthood.  At the same time, however, I don't want to lose the childlike ability to change, nor the constant growth of youth. Though I hope to become an adult in identity, I wish to remain a child at heart.