When I was a kid I thought being a grown up would be something that would be unmistakable. I wasn't really sure what age it was supposed to happen, but at some point you'd stop being a kid and become an adult. Society likes to tell us that at eighteen we'll be an adult in the eyes of the law. I don't know if you remember what it was like being that age, but if anything the world was even more confusing than before. At eighteen you're allowed the right to vote. You can legally have sex with other eighteen year olds and not have it be wrong (at least in most cases). For males you're required to register for Selective Service, meaning it's ok for your country to call you to arms in the event of full scale war breaks out. It's also a time when many are given their first opportunity to leave home and start off on their own. This could be going off to college, joining the military, or just finding a job and place of their own. When we're eighteen we often think we have all the answers. We've been around just long enough to believe our own hype regarding our ability to conquer the world.
I was still in elementary school when I calculated that I would be twenty three when the year 2000 rolled around. I thought for sure that by then I would be an adult. Twenty three seemed so old at the time. I was a year older than my father was when I was born so it seemed logical to think that by the time I got to that age I would be grown up. The only thing worse than an eighteen year old is a twenty three year old. While the world is wide open for a newly graduated eighteen year old, they really have no idea what's in store for them. They may think they know, but it usually takes a few months for them to realize that everything is different than they originally thought it would be. Cut to a handful of years later and you've got this person who is even more convinced they know how the world works. Now don't get me wrong, there are a lot of people who are wise beyond their years in their early twenties. Some people have experienced a lifetime knowledge by the time they reach their twenty first birthday. In a lot of cases though people have only a touch more experience than they did when they graduated from high school. When we are young we learn at a fantastic rate. The world is new and everything we learn is bright discovery. Eventually we get to a point where we've learned so much that we think it's entirely possible that we know all the important stuff. I have a feeling the older you get the more you realize you don't know. With age comes that knowledge what you think you know is only fraction of everything that's out there.
When I was little I loved toys, like most kids probably did. I liked to draw and paint silly pictures. Cartoons were genius, even if they came on too early in the morning. Video games were still a relatively new thing, especially for the home, but once my father bought an Atari system I went out of my mind with excitement. In addition to all this I loved to play outside and run around like a crazy person. Those were things I knew I loved back when I was five. Nearly thirty years later I still love those things almost as much as I did back when I was a kid. I've often wondered why for me those things never lost their appeal, but to others, even people I grew up with, they eventually lost interest in childhood things and moved towards more adult interests. Interests being politics, lawn care, automobile engine horsepower, MASH, and the stock market. Sometimes I think I was very lucky to have found what I liked early on. It must have been difficult for other people who grew up to be interested in politics having to sit through years of brightly colored horses and wacky misadventures by talking ducks.
Then again maybe some people feel the need to follow the sentiment of "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways." For them they reach a certain age and find that they no longer care about what they liked as a kid. Taking a stab at the psychology of that, I wonder if it's possible that those "childish ways" are put away because if you still like those things then it means you're still a child yourself. As I grew up the adults around me had no interest in toys, cartoons, or video games. The friends of my father liked cars and motorcycles. They would talk about things that seemed so far beyond my understanding. My parents watched the news and read the paper, both of which seemed to be filled with the most boring information presented in the most mundane way possible. Both my parents had interests beyond what I saw, but as a kid I only knew that I was the only one in the house who cared about Space Marines or comic books.
These days the majority of my friends are interested in cartoons, video games, comic books, and even toys. Sure they like other things not so childish, but it's interesting to me that I am now around people my age and older who like things that were meant for children. It's become a lot more acceptable for people to like those things from our past. Some of the biggest movies out are cartoons or based on some comic book. The video game industry is a multi-billion dollar field where thousands of very smart people work very hard to make that radiation-ravaged mutant explode in a realistic way when you shoot his face with your bionic shotgun. I think some of this has to do with where we are as a society. Even though the economy isn't great right now, we've experience quite a few years of prosperity. With that there are a lot more opportunities to explore and enjoy things that aren't so practical. Growing up there weren't nearly as many movie critics as there are today. Thanks to the internet and cable's hundreds of channels there are thousands of people who can make a comfortable living discussing and critiquing movies. Thanks to our country's success it doesn't stop with movies. There are websites and television shows dedicated to talking about all sorts of things that have a definite kid-feel to them. Liking comic books or collecting toys is no longer something that people feel embarrassed about.
In addition to all that I think it's possible that this behavior is somewhat generational. Kids can really go one of two ways when it comes to following what their parents like or do. They can either go along with what their parents or they can rebel against it. My father likes cars, planes, and guns. He's a hard worker who has always seemed very practical in what he does. As I mentioned before, he was the one who bought our first video game system, but after that initial purchase his interest in games quickly faded whereas mine only intensified. He tried on several occasions to teach me about an engine works. It was just never something that I got into. I know some kids join their parents in working on cars or sewing or cooking, but for me I was always more interested in what the Smurfs were doing or creating some situation for He-Man to fight his way out of. I'm pretty thankful that my parents never really forced me to do what they did. Even without that pressure I never took to their interests because I had my own. Some kids see what their parents are doing and decide they too want to do it. I don't know if that's a personality thing or something else.
As kids we're asked what we want to be when we grow up. I think that is a really tough question because actually growing up could take a lifetime. Some people are older than their years. In fact I think some people are just mentally old. To them the world is to be seen in a practical way and handled accordingly. While there isn't anything really wrong with this approach to the world, I wonder if they experience joy like they did when they were kids. On the flip side though you have people like myself who only behave like adults when absolutely necessary so when those moments are forced upon us we tend to behave a bit more childishly than we should. Lately it feels like more and more there are grown ups and there are those people who have reached adulthood, but are still trying remember what it was like to be a child, when the world was there to be explored. I suppose if that's true then I don't want to grow up.
