On Being a “Child”

I was never really a “child,” so when people “act like children,” I don’t understand it.

I also never treat children any different than I treat adults, except for having the understanding that they have smaller bodies and sometimes less experience than adults.

For example, it being cool to misspell things on IM, or typing without any punctuation, or typing in big pink letters on bright green. Or just generally acting as though one was “a child” instead of “a person.” I understand doing any of those things as an expression of personality, that’s not what I’m talking about.

Actually, it’s a bit difficult to explain what I’m talking about. But there’s something very noticeable about talking to somebody who [I think] is deliberately “being a child.”

I actually thought this phenomenon was a myth, that’s how foreign it is to my consciousness. That is, I didn’t think people really did “act immature.” I actually had to get older and then talk to 17-year-olds who act as though they were children. That they’re somehow not fully “developed” or something. The most immature thing I ever saw when I was younger was other people calling each other “immature.” Like, “Wow, it was so immature of him to insult me that way.” No, it wasn’t immature, it was just rude! The guy was being rude. Adults do it too.

For most people, I think this “being a child” phenomenon doesn’t seem to go away until they’re about 28 or 29. I’ve noticed a pretty big difference in the people I hang out with who are that age. I have a lot more fun with them–their lives aren’t all hedonism and irresponsibility.

Like, for example, what makes somebody think they can live their life just for getting drunk and having sex? Have they somehow not realized from the very moment of their birth that they had a responsibility for themselves and their future, and that they had an entire life ahead of them? That everything they do at every moment builds that future, and that their happiness and success in life depend on what they do right now, in every moment?

Do people really not know that?? You build your life at every second. There is only future, and there’s a lot of it.

There is no long-run value in pretending to be a child.

-Max