There are countless sayings used everyday . Some that make sense and some that don't . Some that may make sense but do not belong in sentence when referring to the human race.
Last week I heard two of these sayings and for some reason in put some thoughts in my head.
The first was " he's trying to ruffle my feathers " . Yeah it's a common saying but did you ever really think about it? Feathers have a function much more than just showing irritation. If humans had them , most of us would walk around like an electrocuted down pillows. Birds have feathers for warmth , protection , flying, water resistance , etc. like all animals they use them for survival and are satisfied with just living and having what they need and nothing more. Humans are never satisfied totally. We strive everyday for more and when we hit a goal we set another or we even set the bar to high. With feathers , we as humans , would always be Ruffled.
The second saying was , " he needs to grow up" . This to me is a useless attempt to insult another but , is virtually impossible because the aging process is different for everyone. I'm not talking about aging as the unit of measure we use, rather, the aging process that happens due to experience , aquisition of knowledge, and the ability to process mistakes or short comings to obtain a desired experience and knowledge .
I heard it said that we inherit the sins of our parents and we are a product of our environment . I don't find these statements to be true. Given the fact that we all have the power to choose. Though struggles may be similar , this is where the aging process differs when we allow our " feathers" to be ruffled.
Imagine a hole in the earth much like a well ( no this is not a reference to the movie the ring) . At the bottom is shallow water and at the very top is level ground , grass , and sunshine . Now think of this hole as the many stages of your life . The top being a perfect life . There is no metaphor for death in this explanation because , let's face it , we can't escape and we don't know when it will arrive.
Let's start at the bottom or zero, this being birth. You are in the most important stage of life and , your well , like everyone else's has shallow water in it at this point . Keep in mind water is important for all living things . Without it we die . In this explanation the water you provide is what gets you to the top. At zero you are fully dependent on others for all things . As you get older let's say years one through four the water in your well decreases as you learn to do things on your own . You are taking the dirt from the side walls and mixing it into the water , this is mud. The mud will eventually dry and become stronger than regular dirt and this is called experience and knowledge . The experiment and knowledge that drives you up. The faster this happens the faster your mind ages . For some this takes longer .
Now we hit age five . Now depending on how much experience and knowledge we gained our mental age may be older that actual age. At five things get interesting because now we have school , friends and loads of activities to learn. Our well has more water in it again and is taking a little longer to dry into that experience and knowledge base that we need to move up. We start to learn how to interact with each other. With all that fun and learning we get to twelve .
At twelve we have more water because now the experience and knowledge is tougher to obtain. We now concern ourselves with other people's water . I call this bullshit shit! We also have puberty and all that comes with it. This gets us to sixteen . This is where the mud at the bottom has to dry before you move up. The catch is , with all the concerns you have at this point not all of them are yours. You begin to take on the concerns of others ( their bullshit) which is their water.
This continues , heavily until about twenty five to twenty six years old. Don't forget the obvious , getting your license , becoming a legal adult, and legally being able to drink. Like I said before your mental age might be older than your actual age at this point so this time period may be easier to deal with.
As all this is happening you are getting closer to the top of your well , while some may be higher up even though you are the same age . Or further behind .
At twenty five/ twenty six , you have a big decision to make . Do you keep messing around stalling progress or do you become an actual adult and continue the journey up. Which means you have to take a good look at yourself and decide if certain personality traits need to be given up. You know the ones that are detrimental to upward progress . This needs to happen now before they become part of your character and they are either not changeable or require much time to change. The best part is , with every choice comes water to create mud to create knowledge to move up. Better than that is , the fact that eventually this knowledge becomes wisdom.
We never reach the top of the well to the point we are on level ground . That would be utopia !
There is a reason Martin Luther King Jr. Wanted the character of a person to be looked at rather than what's on the surface.
