21st century maturity

There have always been a lot of connotations attached to the word ‘maturity’ throughout the ages. Be it emotional maturity, intellectual maturity, etc and so on and so forth, it has always held a wide array of meanings, depending on the situation,

However, if one tries to distil the basic nature of the word, then, it can be said to stand for a person who, to quote the farmers is now a ripe fruit, fresh for being plucked and consumed, or in other words, ready to claim his/her/their place in the world.

Yet, if one jet sets to the 21^st century, then sadly, maturity appears to have lost its true meaning. In the world of today, maturity has come to mean standardization, and not only in terms of dressing but also in attitudes. If a person A or B or X is found to not possess either of the attributes so demanded or expected, then he/she/they are deemed to be ‘immature’.

At least, from the viewpoint of this writer, the term maturity for most people has come to eschew a certain attitude of either indifference coupled with a rather irritating superior air about themselves, along with a certain set of habits, which if not practised, leave the latter open for sarcastic judgement and other snide comments.

Apart from the above, maturity has also come to mean maturity in appearance, which essentially translates to a certain set of qualities like a square-jawed face, a more angular face, presence of beards (who has said the absence of beards don’t make a man?), a height exceeding 5’8, a Hrithik-Esque body toned and sculpted to perfection and so on and so forth,

For women, it has come to mean a shapely body, with an obvious presence of feminine wiles and guile, fluttery behaviour, use of a wide array of makeup to ‘beautify’ one’s self (who said, you women weren’t so already?) and so on and so forth.

This writer does not deny the importance of such outward factors, and yet, the importance attached to these outward factors have reached such ridiculous proportions that the light appears to shine only on the outward factors and nothing else, and a person is then judged on the basis of  that fact,

People are constantly told to do so and so things to become so and so, and other things, I mean, honestly, is it that hard to love one’s self and cherish one’s self for what one is? Instead of focusing on one’s personality, which is the true measure of a man or woman, one’s outward factors are focussed upon to the extent that those who do not comply with those factors are excluded from acknowledgement and respect and what not.

It is this lack of inclusivity which is an area for concern. A person may not outwardly mature or sharp, but may well be so inwardly or internally.

But alas, the standardization prevalent in modern times prevent something like that from being accepted or acknowledged, except for by a very small group of people, who are treated as curios themselves.

This writer would like to end on the note that this writer believes that maturity, means an all-encompassing nature, and nature which realizes that acceptance of all kinds of people and celebrating their uniqueness, instead of grouping people together to make them ultimately resemble each other, apart from their facial features.