OVERGROWN CHILDREN

We are a culture of children.

We have a limited understanding of the world.
We rely on 'the adults' (experts, politicians, pundits, authorities, wealthy elite, priests) to make decisions for us. We have the incessant 'whys' of curiosity scolded out of us when we are young, and are bored or overwhelmed by new information that expands or challenges the scope of our worldview. This responsibility to grow our knowledge intimidates us, so we reject it, mock it, or waste it on trivia, gossip, and fantasy.

We have poor impulse control.
We want our Amazon goodies, and we want them now! We want fast this, instant that, speedy, rapid and in a jiff. We need 'one-click' buttons, 140 characters, drive-thrus, easy cash, express lanes, and sound bites. Give it to us now before we throw a tantrum and ask to see your manager.

We want the most toys, the best toys, and we don't want to share them.
We compare and compete, envy and brag, showboat, cheat, steal and compromise ourselves so that one day we can say we are the best – that we won the contest! We surround ourselves with trophies and trinkets, and wait for 'the adults' to tell us they're proud: we turned out just like them.

We struggle with projecting the consequences of our actions.
We respond to short-term punishment and reward rather than thinking through how our behaviors will impact everything around us. We don't assess the morality of our acts, we just do what we're told, or do what we want and try not to get caught or called out. Our core compass has not been developed, so we are deterred only by the threat of 'getting in trouble' for breaking 'the adults' rules or public ridicule.

We don't know how to care for ourselves.
We don't know how to grow or forage for food or cook nourishing meals; we give little thought to where our clothes (or other products) come from or how they're made – we just like how they look and put them on; we don't know how to build our homes or craft useful things; we don't know how nature works, and are kept in our plastered, paved and plastic playgrounds to keep us safe from danger; we don't understand how our bodies function or how to keep ourselves healthy. We don't know how to survive on this planet and in these vessels, so we must rely on 'the adults' (doctors, scientists, engineers, captains of industry) to fix us, save us, or tell us what to do.

We are stunted in our ability to navigate interpersonal relationships.
We are cranky and we want everyone to know it, so we Tweetstorm and 'dunk' on our opponents and call each other names. We 'ghost' people when we are done with them, we 'block' and 'unfollow' and 'door-slam' and 'stone-wall' and buy another gun. We honk our horns, put people on blast, write hit-pieces and smear until the meanie-head is destroyed and they can't hurt our feelings anymore. We leave the counseling to therapists, community to sports teams and religion, friendships to social media, self-esteem to consumerism, and intimacy to porn and Tinder. We squirm in the face of authentic connection; we confuse politeness for kindness and familiarity for love.

We don't know how to deal with failure.
We lash out, tune out, or freak out when we feel 'attacked' in any way. We react instead of respond. We struggle to filter critiques into useful and hurtful, and see all criticism as negative and therefore inadmissible. We project our insecurities and darkness onto others, and are incapable of noticing those human traits within ourselves, becoming the very creatures we 'hate'. We hold grudges against others but let our own crap slide. We think failure is contagious and final, so we push it away instead of dissecting the causes and heeding the warnings. We are terrified to fail because we see how our culture treats those who fall through the cracks, which makes us reluctant to try anything new, ask questions or 'think outside the box'.

We are easily afraid.
We rely on 'the adults' to keep us safe, so if they say the teddy-bear camera in our room will keep us safe from terrorist monsters, we enthusiastically comply! We put so much trust in our 'adults', we can't fathom that they could be the monsters. We allow them to violate us and nod along when they say it's for our own good. We are so traumatized and confused, so we close our eyes tight and wish the scary things away with 'thoughts and prayers'.

We think 'the adults' know what they are doing.
We look up to and admire 'the adults' so much that we forget that they not only make human mistakes and let us down, but too often they abuse their power. We confuse confidence, prestige, and rank for wisdom, leadership, and honor. In reality, we are being bossed around by older children, who we think are so cool and smart, but they are making it up as they go along.

We have an underdeveloped sense of empathy.
We squish bugs like our military shreds people. We make fun of the stinky kid with no thought to what their life is like, and they definitely can't sit with us, nor can their homeless family camp in plain sight. We size up the new kids (immigrants) and make horrible assumptions about them, and bully anyone with a hint of uniqueness or originality. We try so desperately to fit-in that we have no love or respect for ourselves, and our self-loathing robs our compassion for others.

We all need a nap and a timeout.
We are sleep-deprived, overstimulated, neurotic, and anxious about everything. We have little time to dream, regenerate and let our minds rest and synthesize. We are discouraged from being idle, uncomfortable with being bored, and we allow our imaginations to wither. We forget how important it is to play and explore and enjoy our beautiful Earth with all our fellows: human, plant, and animal. We are expected to be mini-'adults' when we are kids; so much so that we skip over necessary stages of development, creating warped and mish-mashed 'adults', and the cycle goes on repeating in the absence of healing. We mistake 'adulting' for paying bills and showing up to work on time, without ever discovering who we really are, or learning how to thrive in this life and modeling this for the next generations. We seem to think that growth ends in childhood, and the real responsibilities of becoming a trusted elder – expanding knowledge, facing painful experiences, fixing mistakes and making amends, mentoring others and caring for the sacred – are better left to the self-described 'adults in the room'.