And luck—the luck of a wise and timely uncle-figure, portly or otherwise, who'll teach you something about meliorism in the real world. Susan Neiman is herself such a (non-portly) figure in "Why Grow Up…"—
"Growing up is more a matter of courage than knowledge: all the information in the world is no substitute for the guts to use your own judgement. And judgement can be learned–principally through the experience of watching others use it well–but it cannot be taught. Judgement is important because none of the answers to the questions that really move us can be found by following a rule. Courage is not only required to learn how to trust your own judgement rather than relying on your state's, your neighbour's or your favourite movie star's. (Of course, your state, your neighbour or your favourite movie star may often be right, and good judgement requires you to recognize that.) Even more important, courage is required to live with the rift that will run through our lives, however good they may be: ideals of reason tell us how the world should be; experience tells us that it rarely is. Growing up requires confronting the gap between the two–without giving up on either one.
Most of us are tempted to give up on one or the other. People who stick to the dogmas of childhood can spend whole lifetimes denying that the world does not conform to beliefs they hold dear. While examples of these abound–certain preachers and politicians come to mind–in our day it's more common to meet people who are stuck in the mire of adolescence. The world turns out not to reflect the ideas and ideals they had for it? All the worse for ideals. Maintaining ideals in a world that seems to have no use for them becomes a source of disappointment, even shame. Far better to jettison them entirely than to suffer the memory of hope defeated; far braver to face the depth of the rot of reality than to cling to what turned out to be illusion.
Such a standpoint is less brave than you think, for it demands absolutely nothing but an air of urbanity. Far more courage is needed to acknowledge that both ideals and experience make equal claims on us. Growing up is a matter of respecting those claims and meeting them as best you can, knowing you will never succeed entirely but refusing to succumb to dogma or despair. If you live long enough, each will probably tempt you. Doing what you can to move your part of the world closer to the way that it should be, while never losing sight of the way that it is, is what being a grown-up comes to. If you happen to have a portly uncle who taught you that, you are very lucky."
— Why Grow Up?: Subversive Thoughts for an Infantile Age by Susan Neiman
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ReplyDeleteThis definitely resonated with me, because for the longest time as a child, as well as being in highschool, I had the biggest fear of growing up. I thought I would be so unprepared. but once I got here, it was a little jarring to face the responsibilities, but fortunately I was already prepared to expect things that would challenge my beliefs, and I've learned to trust in myself more
Ill admit growing up is terrifying. I indeed did grow up earlier than most, but there are still some things you can never prepare for. I am close to getting my own apartment and I am terrified. Sure I have paid bills but nothing close to that of an apartment. Besides this however, I think growing up is admirable. It takes courage, and time. The pay off is finally opening your eyes. You can see the world and have the warm feeling of knowing you did it, that you took care of yourself in the end, and you now understand so much more than before.
ReplyDeleteI, as well as most others I think, am nervous about growing up. I think it's the uncertainty and anxiousness that it creates. A lot of older adults talk about adulthood as if it is not very desirable, but I think that all depends on the individual and what they're life ambitions hold. I think as I've gotten older, I've realized that now matter how old someone is, actually maturing and changing is something no one is fully prepared for. Age and experience might help in some situations but everyone faces many of the same "firsts." So in a sense everyone has been in the same or similar situation that you might be anxious about facing which comforts me when thinking about the future.
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