“MORE ON MATURITY”

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #284

As you may recall, the August 31, 2020 edition of this series discussed Professor Stephen Marmer’s views of what constitutes maturity. Soon thereafter one of our esteemed 2 Paragraphs Family members who is deeply involved in assisting brain-injured people thoughtfully responded to that essay. And I was so impressed with her thoughts, I decided with her permission, to pass them along to you. They are as follows:

I totally agree with Dr. Marmer’s opinions on maturity. Brain injury is a tragedy that can be used to be a benchmark to maturity. So many of our survivors have had to grow up fast to take on their own rehabilitation. Those who get stalled by their own negative attitudes are hard yet not impossible to motivate.

I will add another point, if I may. The discipline to see one’s own self honestly is a very mature piece to one’s personality. To be able to evaluate our own flaws as well as our strengths is a mature quality. Only then can we take control of our own lives to take responsibility for our emotions etc. At the outset we are all programmed to be self-interested from birth. For example ‘Mine,’ “myself,’ ‘me’ and ‘no’ are common toddler words. But that vocabulary should not follow us into adulthood. So I’m curious as to how our cultural magazines’ evolutions have assisted in stunting our development. We first started out with Life Magazine – very broad subject, I think. Then came People and then came US Magazine – not U.S. but US! It seemed mostly to take into account ourselves as opposed to others. So why should we be surprised that Self Magazine and I Magazine have pushed themselves to the forefront to appeal to the individual? It seems to me we are teaching our young people to be children, rather than training them to be grown-up adults. We have elongated adolescence and erased childhood. We watch toddlers dressed up like teens and young adults being treated like teens living in their parents’ basements without responsibility. Upside down, in my opinion.

I agree with her. But is there anything that can be done? We mostly can’t raise other people’s children or even meaningfully intercede with that process. The only thing that occurs to me is to support programs of School Choice that would bring competition back into our educational system. That will often result in reclaiming excellence. And then, just maybe, excellence in thinking and developing into mature adults will follow along. Yes, it’s a long shot, but at least a hopeful one. Your thoughts? (But be careful because – also with your permission – you might end up being quoted in an upcoming edition of “2 Paragraphs.”)

Quote for the week: “Hurt people hurt people.”

from the musical “Americans All” by Judge Jim Gray