[ - flat . cat . industries // .

Minding the fact of that small disappointment, the ride was made very pleasant by the fact that earlier in the night (I had left the house at about 7:45), there had been rain enough to make everything cool and wet, but not soaked so much as I couldn’t get around with ease. To put it simply, it was just very cool, and very calm, seeing as the later at night it gets, the fewer cars there are on the road. As a small tidbit of information, a rough estimate is that 10:30 – 11:00PM is usually the optimal time for having the fewest cars on the road, but as for Friday and Saturday nights (parties etc.) it usually varies, with the traffic picking up a little during this time, dying down again, and then resuming normally at 4:00 – 5:00AM.

As a youth, being antagonized or exemplified due to your age is sometimes hypocritical behaviour, whereby those who are belittling the young people are also telling them to grow up and act more maturely. In this instance, “growing up” is about being mature, in comparison to your age. “Growing up”, as in developing personality and gaining knowledge through experience, is something that occurs through change and situation; changes brought upon by a person’s own will, changes forced upon them and changes to lifestyle out of necessity. Differing viewpoints and opinions on the matter result in multiple interpretations, and these determine how a person perceives the ideas of growing up and maturity.

With age, the broader idea is that a person will act in a more typical adult-like way. Physically, a person cannot be stopped from “growing up” this way, where, the majority of the time, an older person is generally respected more due to an assumption of knowledge or other traits that are believed to come with age. In an emotional, or psychological sense, a person can act any age that they choose to be, within reason. To “grow up”, as to mature, involves the mindset of a person, and it is their decision whether they will change themselves to be just as their age describes them or otherwise.

Change generally involves one of three factors influencing it. An individual themselves can change with their own decision, and by their own decision. As a person can judge for themselves what they want, it becomes a decision to change as to how they will act behaviourally. Independent change is much better for a person in that they gain experience through making their own decisions, over changes forced by an outside third-party. These changes can be beneficial in the same way that individual change works for “growing up”, but they limit the knowledge and experience that a maturing person would gain if they had first analyzed, then changed themselves. One other factor of change that influences “growing up” is the necessity of change within lifestyle. In order to grow, age and mature, a person must consider the environment and lifestyle which they currently live in, and determine, by their own decision or another’s, what changes must be made to both “grow up” and mature, or to gain similar experience while still remaining themselves youthful.

These ideas are followed alongside by non-influencing outside forces; the opinions of oneself and the opinions of others. The opinion of a person from external sources allows someone to gauge their age and maturity in terms of the greater community, but does not change an individual’s opinion of themselves and how they see their own maturity. This is because it is impossible for a person to judge their own character, and proceed to change it, without the knowledge of another to point out faults. And, because that external knowledge is merely a personal opinion, the idea of “growing up” can be judged as a different thing between two people.

The world needs intelligent, mature people in order to maintain structure and quality of life. In a broader, more general sense, though, “growing up” means to become more serious about things, over the child-like approach of having fun with life. Therefore, to “grow up” is both a positive and negative thing, where a balance between both sides is best in order to remain happy and productive. But, this is still underlined by the fact that to “grow up”, or to do so without appearing like they have, a person will be influenced by their current lifestyle and the ideas of others, and that is why “growing up” is a matter of change and personal opinion.

An aging matter, or rather, something to ponder upon.

Enjoy,

- E. K.