What does it mean to be mature?
No one wants to stay the same.
Okay, I'm sure most people would agree to always looking 25, but when it comes to matters of the soul, aging is a good thing. Aging is natural, and society rewards those who grow up to become successful and "mature." For my big question, I wanted to explore the idea of "maturity." What is it that ages our souls? To many, maturity takes different forms. It could be a loss of innocence, that a traumatic and strikingly "real" event brings about. Or is maturity simply a state of self-awareness? When one seems to understand who he is, does that make him mature? What is it that spurs inward growth, and what does that inward growth look like?
In modern culture, the assumption is that when a person seems to be on a stable path- emotionally, mentally, socially, financially- then they are leading mature lives. Many high school students who have experienced alcohol believe that their experience of that adult drink makes them more mature, compared to their innocent peers. In my life, I have seen myself mature through different experiences, such as Arapahoe's school shooting or Camp Barnabas. When I better understood the daily struggles of people with special needs, and saw a window into their courage and wisdom, there was a certain shift inside myself that lead to greater humility and an outward perspective. Through the different items of literature we will read in class, I plan to explore the maturity of characters based on how the protagonist changes throughout the story. What of life "matures" him, and what does that maturity look like?
No comments:
Post a Comment