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So, today at Knit-Wits (the group that gets together at the knitting shop and knits blankets for hospice patients) we were discussing the recipe book that we put together as a fund-raisers, and the editor was mentioning that she'd had to edit some of the submitted recipes.
"Really," she said, "some of our younger readers aren't going to know what 'oleo' is."
*blink blink* I am officially not younger anymore, I think, since I know what oleo is, can use a rotary phone, a reel-to-reel tape player, and remember when "regular" gas was as opposed to "unleaded," not the two higher grades.
So, I was thinking this, since if I'm not younger, I'm allowed to bitch about age, right?--is it REALLY TRUE that people get more mature as they get older?
See, here's my reasoning. For most people, their closest friends are going to be in their same age group (their cohort, if you will). The next group out will be the friends and family of their closest friends, plus some odd co-workers and acquaintances and the like.
So, when you're 20, naturally most of your friends are 20, or so; you met in high school or college, say. During those early years, you'll have plenty of time to see the various stupid things that teens and early-20's do. Some of your friends will learn from their mistakes, and some won't, but everyone will make them. This will, for many years, be your "baseline" of what people in their early 20's act like.
Fast-forward 20 years. You're now 40, and you may or may not have some of the same friends. IF you do, it's the ones who've been responsible and mature enough to keep in touch for 20 years. The ones who continued to flake out time after time? Well, you aren't going to know where they are. Because of the higher standard of behavior that you hold your friends to now, you're not going to put up with crap from any new friends. In effect, your friends at 40 are more mature than your friends at 20, but that's because you pick them to be, not because people in general are any more mature.
On the other hand, of ALL the people you know who are 20-ish when you're 40-ish, they'll generally fall into the following categories:
1) co-workers (usually subordinates)
2) friends' kids
3) acquaintances from church or other social activities
And in none of these cases are you likely to get to CHOOSE which ones to associate with, so you're getting a random selection of maturity levels-- hence, your perception of 20-year-old maturity is likely to stay the same as it was when you were 20, yourself. If you got to select your 20 year old friends in the same way you did your (new) 40 year old friends, you'd likely find them to be a lot more mature.
Of course, this leads into the question of "just what IS maturity, anyways"...maybe that's a whole 'nother post.
"Really," she said, "some of our younger readers aren't going to know what 'oleo' is."
*blink blink* I am officially not younger anymore, I think, since I know what oleo is, can use a rotary phone, a reel-to-reel tape player, and remember when "regular" gas was as opposed to "unleaded," not the two higher grades.
So, I was thinking this, since if I'm not younger, I'm allowed to bitch about age, right?--is it REALLY TRUE that people get more mature as they get older?
See, here's my reasoning. For most people, their closest friends are going to be in their same age group (their cohort, if you will). The next group out will be the friends and family of their closest friends, plus some odd co-workers and acquaintances and the like.
So, when you're 20, naturally most of your friends are 20, or so; you met in high school or college, say. During those early years, you'll have plenty of time to see the various stupid things that teens and early-20's do. Some of your friends will learn from their mistakes, and some won't, but everyone will make them. This will, for many years, be your "baseline" of what people in their early 20's act like.
Fast-forward 20 years. You're now 40, and you may or may not have some of the same friends. IF you do, it's the ones who've been responsible and mature enough to keep in touch for 20 years. The ones who continued to flake out time after time? Well, you aren't going to know where they are. Because of the higher standard of behavior that you hold your friends to now, you're not going to put up with crap from any new friends. In effect, your friends at 40 are more mature than your friends at 20, but that's because you pick them to be, not because people in general are any more mature.
On the other hand, of ALL the people you know who are 20-ish when you're 40-ish, they'll generally fall into the following categories:
1) co-workers (usually subordinates)
2) friends' kids
3) acquaintances from church or other social activities
And in none of these cases are you likely to get to CHOOSE which ones to associate with, so you're getting a random selection of maturity levels-- hence, your perception of 20-year-old maturity is likely to stay the same as it was when you were 20, yourself. If you got to select your 20 year old friends in the same way you did your (new) 40 year old friends, you'd likely find them to be a lot more mature.
Of course, this leads into the question of "just what IS maturity, anyways"...maybe that's a whole 'nother post.
