Age is a funny sort of thing. It’s so easy to compare the years of our birth, as if the differences revealed any sort of meaning. Especially in a place where the relative age difference between most of us covers a five-year margin, it is important to recognize the strangeness of equating significance with years of existence.
Age is arbitrary. Perhaps more specifically, our birthday may be certain but its importance is arbitrary. There is no magic number that divides youth from adulthood. Even more relevant to the college student is the fact there is no distinction between “young adult” and “adult.”
We are fully adults, as much today as any other day, provided that we can recognize two very important facts … that are admittedly sometimes lacking from a college student’s conception of the world. Rather, maturity in any context is exemplified by the presence of responsibility and an understanding of your own abilities.
Now is the time to be responsible. This means following through on commitments and stepping up to the consequences of our actions. Trying to pass off duties or tasks, or even worse, trying to separate yourself from the results and repercussions of choices is ultimately the behavior of the adolescent. I understand that college doesn’t ask a lot from you in terms of responsibility. Professors will often grant exceptions, work-study opportunities are abundant, and many of us don’t even need to cook our own food. But, if nothing else, we ought to always take responsibility for our selves and the day-to-day decisions we do make.
But even more than taking responsibility, it is vital to understand your own abilities. By this I don’t mean so much that one should understand their strengths. Many of us do this already and instinctively. We try to be strong in our major, in our extra-curricular interests, or in our sports and other hobbies. We need to understand our weaknesses.
This is a knowledge of where you end. It is a knowledge of what you can and cannot accomplish. It is an opportunity for humility and the truth that no one on this whole campus is “all-that.” Understanding your ending allows you to have a more accurate understanding of where you fit, in the best of senses. Rather than a prideful hammering your head against the wall, know your strengths and leverage them. Also know when you have to stop. No one can do everything, as much as the Willamette culture will try to tell you otherwise.
College is a time of learning and understanding. It is a time of exploration and experimentation. But we, as the explorers, philosophers, scientists and poets, are no longer children. Keep your “inner child” and its sense of adventure, wonder, and excitement. But also know that we are called to be responsible. We are called to understand the places where we, as individuals, end. Walking away from college with a fuller understanding of yourself, in the most mature of ways, is one of the greatest lessons you can learn from any institution.
“No one can do everything, as much as the Willamette culture will try to tell you otherwise.”
Oh Willamette. :) It is sometimes quite a battle to remember this in such a place that is full of people with passionate focused dreams and goals, especially if one does not necessarily fall into that category. The perspective you suggest we have and hold to is crucial if one doesn’t want to fall into a sea of discouragement. ” It is a knowledge of what you can and cannot accomplish. It is an opportunity for humility and the truth that no one on this whole campus is “all-that.” ” I like that ;)