*commentary*
Don't Grow Up Too Soon
The Japanese celebrate Sakura when the Spring cherry blossoms bloom. Not only is it a harbinger of the spring renewal of life, but the blossoms remain for but a few days. This is a reminder of how short life is.
My experience is that people today are in too big a hurry for tomorrow; we are not content with who or what we are today but want to rush into what we think we want to become. Infants are proud to boast that they are "big boy" or "big girl". Tricycles become pseudo motorcycles. Frilly skirts help pretenders to be princesses. Little league players mimic major league heroes and makeup for young girls to reflect their older sisters in the mirror.
In high school, we can't wait to get out and get a job or become "university students". In university, we want to get that great job, or we can't wait to marry our college sweetheart. First jobs are stepping-stones to advanced positions; new marriages anticipate first children. Then we long for the kids to get out of school and be on their own. Empty nesters have a new start for their future. Then we dream of retirement. The first years of retirement are marvelous, but then time starts to move all too fast. Suddenly we are 70 and then 80. We begin to wonder if this is all there is. Did we squander our youth? What would we have done differently if we had known what we know now?
If we look at a timeline of the history of the planet....four billion years, give or take a few, mankind's existence only represents a tiny fraction, about 200,000 years. Each of us appear on this stage for less than 100 years then gone forever, a short flash in time for us to frolic. Shouldn't we savor every moment, enjoy it all, day by day?
Don't grow up too soon. There is a place and time for everything. If we are lucky we will be given 80 or 90 years. The first 21 years are for growing up- a time to be a child and enjoy a child's things. Our twenties are for discovering ourselves- who we are, what we like, and don't like. This is a precious time of exploration, and not a time to make life-altering decisions like enslaving ourselves to a job we don't like or early marriage. Marriage and family building can be a wonderful thing, but it can also be very long, with 60 years or more ahead. As one of the most important decisions of our lives, we want to be old enough, mature enough to make it correctly. We should not shortcut our dreams by thinking that we have to love now or never. This is the time to experiment, to meet lots of people, to see the world.
As we approach out thirties, we should have some idea of who we are and who we want to become. This is the time to reflect on the lessons and experiences of our twenties and make decisions about desired work and with whom we want to share our lives. With experience, successes and failures, we can advance in due time into our mid life years and prosper, knowing that those earlier timely experiences served us well..... Taking time to understand ourselves in our twenties gives us memories in our old age.
Our 50's and 60's are a time to bask in the rewards of our hard work and achievements. Following that is a time to slow down, reflect on our successes and failures and prepare our legacy. We don't want to look back and realize that we rushed through or skipped the most formative years of our lives.
Forcing ourselves today into a premature future denies us a full and enriched life story. Don't grow up too fast, savor this moment. t.d. / 8102