Guest Editorial

"What does it feel like growing up?" my six-year-old brother asks.

"It feels like a crushing sense of obligation paired with the absence of monetary gain." I answered sarcastically. I highly doubt he understood what I had said, but he had a retort regardless.

"And bank robbing?"

There has been no bank robbing involved in my coming-of-age, but I think that this barely knee-high child was on to something; what exactly does the concept of "growing up" entail? At eighteen years old, I don't believe I've quite begun to understand. Pop culture seems to define growing up as parallel to cliques such as "finding yourself" or "becoming a man (or a woman)". Some believe that growing up happens abruptly upon reaching a certain age, which is often marked with a celebration such as a quinceñera or a bar mitzvah.

But how do these rituals gift us with all of the capabilities and competencies required of an adult? How does "finding yourself" yield any visible results? At what age, by what weight can one measure the experience, competence, and maturity that is expected of an adult? From childhood, to adolescence, to adulthood, millions are wondering "Are we there yet?" There is not a single scientific theory, no wise philosophy, no magical chicken bones to toss that will tell us at what point we will be endowed with all of the necessary abilities required to consider one's self a "grown-up".

As much as I wish I could, I can't install an update to upgrade from Teen1.2 to Adult 2.3. However, I can actively work toward learning what I need to know in order to become better at what I need to do. Going to college is my next step toward growing up, and after that I face the transition from education to (hopefully) the workplace. During this time, and the time between now and then, I hope to learn enough in my classes to become well educated, as well as enough life lessons to become a true grown-up.