Maturity
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The topic of maturity is something very difficult to talk about. Especially
when you are a teenager or a young adult. What is to be mature? What makes us mature
or immature? The episode I watched this week I believe helps answer this
question and it shows something that I have taught for a long time. The episode
focuses on Farkle being called a nobody by one of the best players of the
football team. He is even told to grow up as he likes to watch cartoons at
home. Well Farkle takes this seriously and gets into a slight depression but
Maya, Lucas and Riley have something to say to this bully. Lucas is his team
mate in the football team and tells him that Farkle is his friend and he should
apologize but he refuses to and leaves. The next time he enters the classroom
he finds all of his classmates sitting down in the class with words written in
their forehead. Riley has the word insecure, Maya has the word broken, a
different kid has the word silence. This bully realizes that he said the things
that he said to Farkle because he was jealous of the friends he had and the
fact that he could still enjoy the cartoons and the jokes with his friends that
he couldn’t because it would make him seam immature to the rest of his team.
What Maya, Riley, Lucas and the rest of the class is acknowledging their
own flaws so that the bully could acknowledge his own. That is being mature, learning
to accept your flaws and failures. I already talked about flaws and failures in
my piece “Living History” but the key take away point here is that being able
to recognize your flaws and failures like Farkle and the class as well as your
strengths makes you more of a mature person than those who insist on pointing
them out. Having your likes and things that make you happy and not letting them
go because of the pressure of society around you, that is being mature.
Back in high school I was told from time to time to be more mature, to
stop being so silly and playing around in a football match or in a classroom,
to stop watching the “kids” shows that I like to watch, to go out drinking with
class mates instead, to laugh at silly jokes, to watch serious movies dramas
like the Danish girl or icons like pulp fiction instead of the films that I like
to watch like Night at the Museum. The people that tell me these things have no
idea what it means to grow up or be mature. A lot of people make the mistake
that doing these things means you are more mature I don’t think so. Part of
growing up is taking in more responsibilities, organizing ourselves better and
knowing when things require our focus and seriousness. No matter how much I laugh
at silly jokes, say when I am with my friends ridiculous things, watch kids
comedies, when it comes to situations that are important I take them with the
seriousness and focus they require. People that have played football, tennis, done
swimming with me and my class mates in exams will know that this is the case.
Another part of growing up is taking in more positive qualities in order
to become a better person; be less judgemental, more patient, more open to new
ideas, kind, friendly, respectful, honest, perseverant among many others. People
who recognize that these are the qualities they want to have and stride towards
them, who portray them, they are the real mature people. The actions of Riley
and her friends to help Farkle overcome his sadness and help the bully become a
better person by pointing out their own flaws that is the action of mature
people. Taking into the real world I believe that we can see Rowan Blanchard
(Riley) and Sabrina Carpenter (Maya) as more mature people than a lot of the
class mates we have in high school, in middle school, in university. At the end
of these piece there are some links to articles and interviews of both of these
girls so that you can see by yourself why they show what it is to be mature.
Rowan Blanchard is an activist, always striding for female equality. A girl who
is only 14 edits posts on magazines to raise awareness about civil equality,
who knows how important it is to go and vote, who understands the hypocrisy of
not being able to post on social media due to her status as an actress. She
mentions in an interview that she has to monitor the amount of pictures she
posts of herself because she would be tagged as a self-obsessed person. She
hates to post pictures of the red carpet because it makes her very nervous and
is scary for her something you don’t hear from most stars showing just how
grounded she is. This girl has a deeper
view of the word than a lot of people my age, 18-25. And something that makes
her more mature is how grounded she is an actress. From time to time she does
live streams to talk to her fans and answer questions and in those streams you
can see an honest, grounded, thankful, natural girl who still likes to watch
cartoons from looney tunes but gets serious about topics that divide society.
Sabrina Carpenter also does live stream interviews and you can see how
grounded and real to who she is when in one live stream she calls fans that
send her their phone numbers because she just wants to thank them. On her
twitter you can see tweets that are very typical of a 17-year-old with a little
bit of sarcasm and fun in them but never failing to get involved in important
world events such as the tragedies of Ecuador and Japan. She loves Disneyland
and people might say she is bit too old for it but she still goes because she
enjoys their films and characters. However, when she has to focus on her music
then she does so trying to give inspiration to people who want to the same y
saying things like “write till your hand gets tired and can’t write anymore,
and then keep on writing.” Which are words of wisdom for someone at such a
young age. These girls are true examples of maturity.
The fact that I can appreciate
this show for the lessons it portrays about life, the fact that I can reflect
upon them and use the qualities of the characters as something to emulate
towards makes me more mature than people who dismiss the show or dismiss me for
watching without having giving it an opportunity or hearing out the reasons why
I like it. Being close minded and looking towards the flaws of others in order
to point them out, that makes you immature.
Having many one night
stands or cheating on your girlfriend/boyfriend by being with many women/men doesn’t make
you more mature in fact it means you haven’t achieved the maturity to realise
what loyalty is, who you want as your partner or even acknowledge the feeling of
others you get involved with. Liking the things you like doesn’t make you less
mature. Knowing when to put your focus into something, rising above failure,
knowing your flaws and correcting them, being a better human being that is being mature. So don’t think that
because you like the same things that you did when you were 15 and behave in a
similar way that you are not mature or are not an “adult” because that is not
what makes you mature.
There is a kid inside all of us. Being mature is not letting it die but building on that foundation.
Links:
Rowan Blanchard red carpet picture: https://www.facebook.com/rowanblanchardofficial/photos/a.835802466490837.1073741829.835343619870055/1048230488581366/?type=3&theater
Rowan Blanchard wants Teens to speak up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhAwv_XU3g4
Rowan Blanchard interview: http://www.teenvogue.com/story/rowan-blanchard-kanye-west-social-media
Sabrina Carpenter Twitter: https://twitter.com/SabrinaAnnLynn
Sabrina Carpenter Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mTNj7Sa0dc&list=WL&index=36
A look at Sabrina Carpenter: http://www.pacyber.org/news/article/?PA-Cyber-teen-lands-Disney-TV-role-21
A look at Sabrina Carpenter: http://www.pacyber.org/news/article/?PA-Cyber-teen-lands-Disney-TV-role-21
Credits:
Disney Channel
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