My brother came to Florida this past weekend, and one of the evenings we had a brother-to-brother expose of Southern California society. Upon explaining his frustration with the women and men of the popular "party scene" (as he has personal ties to some of them), I found myself thinking about how these individuals share many commonalities with the famed Never-Never Landers. The following is a stream of consciousness aiming to incubate this theoretical egg further.
It seems that many people in So. Cal (though they exist in many other metropolitan cities) act along the same lines: all play, little responsibility, immature, they only care about themselves and having fun--even at the expense of others. Drinking is often a necessary necessity to these Peter Pans and Tinker Bells, mainly because they find that distraction from either working life or they like life better under a drunken haze. I have found that, many people within this group simply want to eat, drink, be merry, and think happy thoughts only to fly away from the thought that they are getting holder and thus, should be more responsible for themselves, sympathetic towards others, and mature, than simply engaging in debauchery every weekend.
The temptation is out there to engage the Never-Never Land complex. It is easier to run from maturity than embrace it. Ask anyone who has gone through an experience where they had to "grow up", and they will tell you it was a very stressful, sometimes painful experience. Much like growing physically, growing emotionally requires some pain at times. The only difference is unlike puberty, we have a choice on whether or not we wish to embrace the pain and grow from it or remain infantile.
What many in this land fail to recognize is that we continue to age, and there can be much more long term reward to embracing the pain and growing as it happens. How many have seen reality TV shows where there is a grown man or woman who is acting like a complete child? How likely are you to want to get to know that person?
It could be that those who grow up find more fulfilling lives as they discover themselves finding hope in the future based on the character built from suffering. If we run from suffering and life's trials in general, then we have no basis of comparison on which to substantiate hope when those trials do strike, and thus find ourselves in a state of panic, anxiety, and stress--sounds like more growing up. The only difference lies in who is around to help support you through it; I just hope those friends around out partying--a voice mail isn't as comforting.
It's said 30 is the new "20"; I say that's denial--only appropriate it came out of L.A.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
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