Obligatory XX Days until graduation.
I am an adult.
I am more of an adult than a lot of my peers, for better or worse. I am one of those “serious” types that always gives off that aura of “gosh, he’s old”. Even my hair reflects this, as it’s been speckled with a good amount of grey hair since my freshman year.
Sure, I still have fun, I smile, I laugh, and I hang out with people – maybe not as much as I used to, but I still enjoy it. And I can still act silly and ridiculous from time to time. (Alcohol helps.)
I ‘feel’ like an adult.
I am totally ready to pick up a job, start working, pay taxes, pay debts, own a house, and raise a family. If all of this happened tomorrow by some freak occurrence, I could take it like a champ. (About 90% of the time I feel this way, but the other 10% of me is still filled with self-doubt and worry every so often.)
But I don’t think I get treated like an adult at all.
I’ve taken issue with this since I was very little. People can comment on how responsible and mature you are at a young age, but that doesn’t mean you get any special privileges or permissions (maybe sometimes, but not too often.) And in no way, shape, or form would anyone ever listen to a 9-year-old about what’s right or wrong. Despite this though, when I was little, I always felt that my opinion, my attitude, my stance, whatever it was, meant close to nothing. Even though I was so much more responsible and mature than my fellow 9-year-old’s, I was still a kid.
That is probably why I got so old so fast. I wanted to be older, so I could be respected.
I have been extremely disappointed with my endeavors and their yields.
Even now, I still feel like I am being chided and scolded like a kid who doesn’t know any better on a huge amount of issues.
** I am the Head of Operations for CPAC. Do you know how frustrating it is to have your “advisor” laud themselves over you like they know better than you in all instances? Can I know ANYTHING? Can it be possible that I know what I am doing? Is it conceivable that I may be right, and you, wrong? I get it, you want to make sure everything is proceeding according to plan and going to work out, but can you either get involved earlier or just trust that I am a competent individual? It infuriates me.
And it isn’t just them, my family too can act like this to me, and I am not forgiving a single one of them easily for it. I am a smart man, not as smart as I could be, but very smart and knowledgeable and wise for a guy who is only 22.
Let me ask you something, and feel free to respond as a Letter-to-the-Editor: What do you think of the stuff I have presented in my columns alone? Could I have done more research to back up my claims? Of course. Did I? No. Did I need to? Not really – these columns were opinions and first reactions indicative of many students who otherwise wouldn’t be speaking out to the campus. How many people I’ve had compliment me for my work for “telling it like it is” astounded me. But there are people who scoff at me and think I am just an overreactive child.
All I’ve ever wanted was someone to earnestly listen to me and what I had to say, and think “man, this guy actually does know what he’s talking about”. I put in a lot of thought to the things I say and write. I feel like I think a heck of a lot more than a lot of my peers.
I always imagined that being an adult meant that I’d be respected and my opinion validated. It seems this is just another in a long line of disappointments as I grow older.
