As kids we have very binary ideas.Some part of this is contributed by the adults in our lives who tell us that there are good people & bad people,there are right things & wrong things & so on.As we enter the teenage age group(age 13) our world view starts expanding.We start taking liberties,we are no longer dependent on the adults in our lives to go from place to place.Some teens even revolt & do exactly the opposite of what they are told.We interact with a lot of new people.Suddenly,we are exposed to hundreds of different personalities.Most of us have had fairly sheltered lives & we take things at face value.There is also a certain acceptance & warmth in young age.There is no cynicism.But soon the chinks in this world view start emerging.Of course,the rate at which different people change is different.Many continue to be fairly innocent even up till college.However,it is certain that the naivete of childhood starts transforming into something more practical.Though the better percentage still continues to believe in concrete changes.We feel we can change things permanently or atleast someone else can.This is nowhere more apparent than in politics.We grow up listening to our parents & others talking about how corruption is rampant,how the politicians don’t care,how much the ‘system’ is messed up & so on.Thus,when we see a new face talking sensible stuff we buy it immediately.Others do some background checks & come to similar conclusions.The general idea is that this new guy can transform the system completely & sustainably if given the chance.And this is not a selfish desire.We genuinely want the society to have better resources.But as we grow older still,this idealism starts to crumble.After college(& sometimes just after school) we have to work at a job.And at our work places,things are seldom what they seem.We go with wide eyes to do what we were employed for.We worked hard to get there.However,things don’t turn out as we had expected.This is the beginning of cynicism.We learn that politics is not limited to just the political world.It thrives even in seemingly unrelated work places.Humans have a tendency to look after their self-interests.The reasons could be many..different people have different motivations.When a lot of such people meet the results can be catastrophic.Now imagine someone who just wanted to do the work he/she was employed for & doesn’t want to get his/her hands dirty in all these shenanigans.What can they do? Being idealists they again imagine a world where all this doesn’t happen.Of course,no such place exists.It’s the sad truth.
Thus,I feel one of the big problems of adulthood is coming to terms with these realities.It is our biggest challenge as adults to temper down our ideals while still retaining our individuality.And going into a shell,turning a blind eye doesn’t work.It all bottles up & will explode as something much worse sometime in the future.It is probably only when we calibrate our ideals into something more actionable that we can truly experience happiness again.This journey is what I feel defines adulthood.
keepmesaneblog 