Selective Maturity

Maturity is a quality society today stresses and must be met, there is no margin for immaturity. Immaturity however should not be a trait never displayed, it holds a sense of free will and unbridled passion that a “mature” person must not appear to possess. We submit to realizing there are moments similar to a see-saw when maturity must be going up, but gravity should always be there to bring you back to the level surface of immaturity.

Just this week during one of my classes we had an admiral for the US Navy come speak with us. Now if you don’t know, an admiral is kind of a big deal, so needless to say we were trying to put on our best faces. Well, true to college and student’s general lack of caring at times, several bunches of people chose to talk.  They were fairly quiet, however they still were speaking during the Admiral's presentation. This should have been a time when maturity is on the rise, not just because of social convention, but also because of the commitment this man has made and the honor and respect that he should be commanding.

If you spend any time with Nick or me you can clearly tell who the mature one is (at least on the surface).  It is usually not me and I doubt too many people will argue with this fact.  (One such argument may in fact be when I yelled "thanks" up to a female who happened to have her window blinds open after having just taken a shower. Now some back story for the viewers at home. Me and the crew were just walking back to the apartment after having hit up the ATM.  As we were nearly back to our destination there is an apartment that is right on the corner as you cross the street.   As we were crossing we happened to look up at the bright light which unfortuantely for her revealed a window completely uncovered.) My close friends will recall I have often toyed with the idea of writing a book titled “Mature…and why I’m not.”  This basically explains my entire personality.  On this last sentence I must elaborate further.  I strongly believe there are times and places to be mature. I believe I have mastered the common sense taken to know the proper times to turn the mature switch on.  During my brief year and a half stint in Army ROTC I was often ridiculed and scolded for always making jokes, goofing around etc.  When it came time to have the cadets I was responsible for ready to go, have their equipment, and be in the right place, I never failed.  I took every single physical fitness test with the utmost seriousness, never wanting to let anyone beat me. In the ROTC lifestyle I chose quite often to be immature and make people laugh.  When it was time to get things done, I got things done. 

I have basically two passions in life, one of which is making people laugh.  This is hard to do if you are mature all the time. I am 21 years of age and nearly 22. I have the next 70+ years to be mature (God willing).  Why hassle with the effort now. My current lifestyle has never stopped me from acquiring a job, making friends or having fun.  Why then would I stop?  I probably won’t stop, at least for a few more years. I think we should all enjoy these years before we leave fantasy land (college) and head into the real world.  With that being said, I would like to include a brief story that will perhaps sum up the outlook I have as a young male adult.

The Tale of Two Water Balloons.

This tale comes from recent past.  Proudly, and also a bit sadly I will admit I was fairly old at the time of this event. My lifelong friends and I from Fort Wayne (greatest city in the world) were bored one night so we decided to head to Applebees for dinner.  It was here we further decided to stop at Wal-Mart and purchase a couple hundred water balloons and a launcher.  We stopped back at my house and quickly started filling the balloons up.  We soon were done with the faucet and we loaded up in my friend’s minivan.  We debated for a few minutes as what to do with the balloons before arriving at our conclusion.  We decided, after a hint of brillance, we would drive on the back roads and throw the balloons at Amish.  Now it is here I must halt the story for awhile and defend our situation.  We weren’t racing past the Amish driving sixty, we slowed down to their pace so as to not inflict any real harm on these unsuspecting people.  I know a lot of you readers are probably a little taken back by this and may even think we are vile and cruel.  I can assure you had you been with us that night you have never laughed so hard in your life.  For some reason driving by doing 10 mph sliding open both doors and chucking water balloons is one of the funniest experiences I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying.  I’m not sure why this is, can’t really be explained.  It is true nonetheless.  Something about our methods, and the vehicle we were in(old minivan, nearly 2000,000 miles, no inside lights, etc..) just made everything come together into one great night of comedy. I think everyone who was with me can agree to that.  We were not trying to inflict any harm on anyone or cause an accident (looking back it was probably very lucky no accidents were caused).  We were just bored looking to have a good time, admittedly it was at the expense of someone else.  For that perhaps we should feel a little bad or regretful….  I will not say I regret what happened, but rather perhaps it should not be repeated.

Most my life is generally lived in the highest of the maturity standards, thus to pick out a story of maturity would just be pummeling an unconscious fighter. So perhaps I can regal you with the immaturity Dehr brings out of me. Every now and again we have a suit up night to the bars. Wearing suits on most occasions is an indication of maturity, job interview, funeral, date. However these nights the suit is almost a bond-like cover, because in fact the immaturity is really headlining this event. We run around, prance if you will, yell, nearly get into fights, and somehow get the most ridiculous songs played in the bars to which we can sing to.   At times a lewd comment may be uttered and yet the whole while the suits are on display. This confuses many to no end, however if I might interject this is but a juxtapose on life and the immaturity which we find behind our suits in order that we might satisfy cultural or societal standards or thoughts.  By putting on our suits we are trying to exemplify maturity on an outside scale, but in fact it is merely a means for us to get away with our outlandish and extravagant actions.

The key for us as young adults is to find this balance between maturity and immaturity.  Knowing when you can laugh and when you just need to sit still, pay attention and render the utmost respect are essentials in life.  Whether you are listening to an Admiral, a pastor in church, or whether you are out gallivanting for the night it only takes a small amount of common sense to realize whether maturity or immaturity should be held higher.