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Slogan/motto:
"Clichés are the bane of educated mankind."
-P.C. Cast
Reputation:
What Makes an Adult? -
July 5th, 2012, 09:09 PM
I recently discovered Shakespeare's play Henry IV.
Finally picked up my Complete Works again, two years after buying it for a class.
The main non-political story of the play is the maturation of Prince Hal (soon to be the titular character in Henry V) from a ne'er-do-well who lives for the pleasures of the moment to a calm, contemplative ruler who inspires his subjects.
Keeping him from this maturation is a group of drunken louts led by Sir John Falstaff, a much older man and one of Shakespeare's funniest and best-loved characters.
(Just as an example, Queen Elizabeth requested that Shakespeare give Falstaff his own play, thus The Merry Wives of Windsor.)
Falstaff is the epitome of hedonism, drinking, whoring, and anything else which happens to please him at a given moment.
Eventually, Prince Hal is forced by war to rise to his responsibilities as the future king, and so on into adulthood.
Now, to the question. Henry IV is a classic example, but there have been many before and since, of "arrested development," of men and women who are adults by their birthdate, but for various reasons do not act the part as society dictates.
We've all see people in real life who can legally do adult stuff, but don't act the part according to our definition of adulthood.
What is your definition of "adulthood"?
What makes a person unquestioningly an adult?
Please keep "society" out of your answers.
I'm not asking if more people are childish or immature nowadays.
That's a whole other discussion.
I want to know YOUR PERSONAL STANDARD for what makes an adult.
Vaya con Dios.
Dieu est l'amour.
Allah bidabbir.
“In many ways the evidence of our faith is found in our ability to control our tongue (or our keyboard)."
-Adam Hamilton, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White
Slogan/motto:
"Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fancies.
To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing."
Hypatia of Alexandria (370 - 415 AD)
Reputation:
July 5th, 2012, 09:17 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buzzword
I recently discovered Shakespeare's play Henry IV.
Finally picked up my Complete Works again, two years after buying it for a class.
The main non-political story of the play is the maturation of Prince Hal (soon to be the titular character in Henry V) from a ne'er-do-well who lives for the pleasures of the moment to a calm, contemplative ruler who inspires his subjects.
Keeping him from this maturation is a group of drunken louts led by Sir John Falstaff, a much older man and one of Shakespeare's funniest and best-loved characters.
(Just as an example, Queen Elizabeth requested that Shakespeare give Falstaff his own play, thus The Merry Wives of Windsor.)
Falstaff is the epitome of hedonism, drinking, whoring, and anything else which happens to please him at a given moment.
Eventually, Prince Hal is forced by war to rise to his responsibilities as the future king, and so on into adulthood.
Now, to the question. Henry IV is a classic example, but there have been many before and since, of "arrested development," of men and women who are adults by their birthdate, but for various reasons do not act the part as society dictates.
We've all see people in real life who can legally do adult stuff, but don't act the part according to our definition of adulthood.
What is your definition of "adulthood"?
What makes a person unquestioningly an adult?
Please keep "society" out of your answers.
I'm not asking if more people are childish or immature nowadays.
That's a whole other discussion.
I want to know YOUR PERSONAL STANDARD for what makes an adult.
I would say that when you stop thinking with your feet and start thinking with your Brain you are an Adult.
I have known 15 year olds who are more mature than certain 60+ year olds.
Slogan/motto:
...the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love thei
I want to know YOUR PERSONAL STANDARD for what makes an adult.
An adult in my personal standard is a person who accepts the judgement of God when interacting with others and does not condemn from the basis of their own ego or perceptions. Let me try to clarify that. Read the poem Desiderata. Then read it a second time. Then read the poem "If". Again read it again. Then read the Bible cover to cover. When you have done those things sell all that you own, distribute the proceeds to the poor and walk. Camp with the homeless and eat what is offered you. Sleep in wetness because you have no shelter from the rain and it is cold but yet you must sleep. Do these things and then rebuild your life never losing a smile. That, friend, will teach you the meaning of adult.
Slogan/motto:
Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."
Reputation:
July 9th, 2012, 09:22 PM
I'd say responsibility for and love for others. Oftentimes a wife or a family seems to act as a catalyst to this.
The other night I was talking about rites of passage with some friends, and how we don't really have any in our culture. This is a pretty interesting on that topic, reached through the idea of channeling men's energy either toward "the bully" or "the knight."
"If a sheerly linguistic version of the gospel could be concocted, it would merely so be no longer the gospel. In the Lutheran Reformation’s understanding, which we believe in this matter to be correct, the sacraments make the inalienable externality of the gospel message and therefore are necessary to the authenticity of that message." (Christian Dogmatics [1984], II:302-303 as cited in Pontifications)
Slogan/motto:
"Clichés are the bane of educated mankind."
-P.C. Cast
Reputation:
July 10th, 2012, 08:31 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by zippy2006
The other night I was talking about rites of passage with some friends, and how we don't really have any in our culture.
The lack of unquestioned rites of passage in American culture has been a thorn in my side ever since I started hitting the adult-ish ages, when suddenly new privileges are thrust upon us whether we are actually qualified to take responsibility for them or not.
Especially given that the LAW treats us as adults just for living a certain number of years.
I really envy tribal societies in this respect.
A boy kills a leopard, and he's a man.
No questions about his "readiness," no second-guessing his opinions or desires (assuming they are not destructive to the collective).
Simple "if, then" statement sums up adulthood.
If you kill a leopard, then you are an adult, and the entire society will recognize you as such from that moment onward.
Our lack of such rites is one of the primary factors which has led to the perception of multi-generational arrested development in America, IMO.
Great video, BTW.
Though a problem we are seeing in the generations since that intangible, unremarkable moment when American society abandoned all rites of passage is that boys can't become men because their fathers can't teach them what they (the fathers) don't know.
My father is a pre-Baby Boomer, but during my early development I began rejecting traits which I saw him exhibit which I subconsciously connected to "manliness."
He was abusive, he was emotionally unstable, and not until he had a stroke at the age of 55 (I was 14) did I see him demonstrating any of the qualities which Fr. Barron attaches to "manhood."
Selflessness, devotion to family, working for the community, striving for ambitious goals, etc.
I should also note that he didn't become a Christian until age 50.
Suffice it to say my relationship with him has never been anything but a roller coaster.
It's a kiddie ride nowadays, but I still feel like I'm subconsciously keeping him at arm's length.
Thus, I the 26 year-old recent college graduate have NO CLUE what it means to be a man.
I think of myself as a mostly relaxed individual, but I feel overwhelmed with anxiety any time a money management issue comes up (thank God my wife doesn't have that problem).
God has worked on me in my short adult life, especially through my wife, making selflessness easier over time, but so far only towards my wife.
It doesn't help that most of the other men in my family seem to just effortlessly handle anything that comes their way.
Vaya con Dios.
Dieu est l'amour.
Allah bidabbir.
“In many ways the evidence of our faith is found in our ability to control our tongue (or our keyboard)."
-Adam Hamilton, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White
Slogan/motto:
"Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fancies.
To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing."
Hypatia of Alexandria (370 - 415 AD)
Reputation:
July 10th, 2012, 06:15 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TruthSetsFree
following Jesus is what makes someone mature
which is why there are so many immature people in the world
So...Are you trying to see how low your rep can go? lol
Ge 5:25 ¶ And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:
Ge 5:27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
Therefore, when Methuselah was 187 years old, he was considered an Adult.
So, just wait until you are 187 years old and you will be considered an adult .
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