" Maturity" by Sean V

Maturity, by definition, is “the state, fact, or period of being mature,” and although the societal push towards conformity in dated ideals still remains apart of many cultures, the modernization of expressed emotion, the understanding of others and new found care for our mentalites has transformed the book definition of maturity into a what would be a natural state of being. Maturity to me is the purest form of human understanding, because to be mature is to be tolerant, compassionate, wise, and altruistic. It is a state of being that can’t be reversed, once you learn how to be mature, you will retain every characteristic in some form or another. Instead of conforming to the ideas of culture, race, masculinity, femininity and sexuality, the ideals that have been so detrimental to our progress, maturity to me follows none of the laid stereotypes of manning up, being denied affectionate preferences, or being forced into any type of assigned role. In many aspects of our lives we are forced to believe one thing about maturity, each to fit an agenda, a certain tradition or an idea. As a hispanic, the culture’s take on maturity is tied in with suggested gender roles and suppressing emotion, and as many other cultures have assigned the same “requirements” to be mature, the definition of maturity has evolved over time to fit whatever the popular idea is. But, now as we have progressed from the times where those definitions were commonplace, we can see what it is to truly be mature. To have love and compassion for other people is to be mature, and as we grow and learn certain things, go through differing experiences, the same thing remains constant, we mature, not in the ways that we were forced to believe was maturity, but we mature in our understanding of human behavior. We have empathy for others and their situations, and once you can grasp how nice it feels to be genuine with another person, show the people you love and don’t love compassion, see eye to eye with an opinion you didn’t believe, that’s when the state of maturity is irreversible. And even if we grow spiteful as we age or seem ungrateful for the things we have, we still will always retain the actions and memories made when being mature, and even when the memories of being their dated ideal of maturity, to our parents or grandparents, may have caused them harm, the memories that we might have being this definition of mature; patient, understanding and kind, will always remain and forward the need to have the feeling of maturity again. Even without the implications laid upon the word maturity by the many people who used it to a backwards ideal, the word’s definition is much more than just being physically grown, as stated, without the complete understanding of people, their opinions and thoughts, as a society we would have never progressed, it’s in our compassion and willingness to value opinion that we have moved forward. The generations before have never found the perfect word to describe the value of thought or emphasis on sympathy, but in all of our history the word I think best fits our method of progression is maturity, even if by book, by family or by culture the word takes on various different meanings, the true and most honest definition is the one stated.