Joel Jonas Tan Ngee.

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jo99xpro@hotmail.com


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Friday, July 17, 2009

Maturity.
While some people would define it's level through thoughts, words and actions,
I'd like to believe that one's thoughts would clearly define maturity.
This is such because a person's thoughts would lead to the action he/she takes,
and every single word that comes off their lips.

We grow tall, fat, muscular.
We grow pimples, facial hair and all sorts of hair.
Our voice deepens, or our voice develops.
..Hang on,
does that make us any much more mature?

I don't believe that a person's level of maturity only grows,
I believe that a person's level of maturity can decrease too.
Our level of maturity never actually stays put.

Here's a question.
Can a 9 year old boy be more mature than a 45 year old man?
I'd say definitely.

A boy comes home from school,
and he's on his way home.
A man just had his coffee from the nearby Coffeehouse,
and is on his way back home to get his daily does of the news.
Both of them share the same pavement,
the man in front,
the boy following behind.
As they approach the very same void deck,
they observe a lady in a wheelchair,
frantically pushing her wheels up a ramp.

The man, walking in front, thinks to himself,
"Hmm, Should I help her?"
"Nah.. She's managing fine."
"Hmm, but that seems rather strenuous"
"Ah, all the better.. It's good exercise!"
"Argh, I really should help her."
"Aiya, she has to learn to be independent, besides, maybe she doesn't want your help?"

The man, walks past the lady and up the stairs,
as he passes her, he looks towards the road,
as though he recognized someone familiar.

The Boy who saw the old lady in the wheelchair soon after,
thought to himself..
"I should help her."
"Yeah, I should."

He approaches the lady and with a smile,
ask her if she required any help.
The lady smiled and replied, "yes please, i need to go that way."
The boy gives a gentle nod,
and pushes the lady towards her destination.
As she thanks him,
he couldn't help but feeling so much happiness in his heart.
Yet, he wondered why the man never did approach the lady.
**

..In this context,
isn't it obvious that the boy had been way more mature than the man?
The man had to think so much,
before he actually decided NOT to do the right thing, which was to help.
He's concerned over his image, he's concerned only about himself,
he tries to HIDE the fact that he should have helped her.

With another example I'd like to explain how one can grow in maturity,
and also decrease in levels of maturity.

A man may be successful in terms of his business, his family and his knowledge.
People can confide in him, and get the appropriate advice which would more than never,
solve their problems.
However one day, this man decides to try something out. (His less-mature self acts up)
He's heard of the wonders of what drugs could do,
but never tried to believe it.
He finds a drug dealer,
and takes the first pop.
He gets addicted to it,
and soon lives on it.

One day,
He gets caught for poppin' and is sent to a rehab center.
With the grace of god, he breaks free from addiction,
and is finally free.
**

After this whole incident,
would you say that this man has grown in maturity?
Well, the story's still left to be told.

If he chooses to share his story,
to others who may fall in the same trap as him,
and advice others not to try drugs out and stuff,
I'd say he has indeed grown in maturity.

HOWEVER,
if he chooses to fall in the trap once again,
I'd say he would be letting his less-matured self grow,
and let his matured-self die.
He would be no better than a 3 year old since he can't control his life,
he can't control anything,
and he's a threat to others as well.

Bringing back to society,
I think we have a tendency to do stupid stuff sometimes,
but it's up to us to decide whether to let our less-matured self grow,
or let the matured self of ours grow.
We can also AVOID the tendency of stupid decisions,
by not running away from the right thing.

eg. We shouldn't ask ourselves "why do we have to keep our school attire proper?!?!?!!"
but rather, we should ask ourselves, "Hmm, why shouldn't we keep ourselves neat and proper?"

There are 101 ways to argue everything for every cause,
wrong or right,
but I believe no matter how strong a person's argument can be,
both parties would know what is the right thing.


Joel.