Growing up.
This is an extremely layered process which raises many questions:
Do we need to grow up or stay that little kid?
Why do we need to grow up?
At what age you should be a grown up? Is 18 still a kid?
What does growing up actually mean for children?
 |
| Click here for Hindi version of the post |
None of us knows the exact answers to these questions. But that's the nature of these inner conflicts that no one has a definite answer. But, we can surely discuss this within ourselves and maybe find a way.
So let's begin.
Both of the ends in these questions are logical if we think about it.
Adults around us, the people who care for us and have been through the walks of life always tell us to grow up. To leave that arrogance, stupid behaviour and foolishness in the past.
Their logic is that you need to be able to make matured decisions in your life. The world is not going to be a Disney movie or a fairy tale. The world is not just good and bad. It's either good and better or bad and worse.
And then you need to think about the future, you have to work and earn, you have to take responsibility for your actions and so much else.
That's growing up in a broad picture.
But then we all hear all those same adults talking about how life as a kid is so fun, you have no worries, you live in complete innocence, how you can ask questions freely now and again it goes on.
 |
| Book by Notion Press |
Children are so honest, we learn lying from the world
Children are so curious, the world suppressed our queries
Children are so lovely and cute, we are just sad, fat humans in our chairs.
So, grow up or not? Are we going to be forever stuck in this dilemma, in this INNER CONFLICT?
I look at this in this way: A trade off between rights and duties.
We just have to do this trade with better rules.
As kids, we usually have rights but barely any duties. We are made to believe that as we grow we have to replace our rights with duties or for a new sort of right. Eg. we are made to think that we have to change our right of being taken care of to the duty of taking care of others. We have to leave your right to make mistakes for our right to be independent. But that's a wrong approach.
The reality is that we have an initial surplus of rights as we are born. Our job is to create a balance between rights and duties as we grow up. We add more rights along the journey and accept new duties as well. How?
As we grow up we have to take care of others but the world automatically sends people who take care of us as well. We just have to realize their presence. We can be independent but still make mistakes. We can be emotionally strong but still feel the tiniest of things within.
 |
| Do you agree? |
That's it for this post.
I'd like to conclude with a very beautiful line by Erica Bauermeister in her book Joy for Beginners: "Adults need to have fun so children will want to grow up.”
- Keshav At Earth
Post a Comment