If You Are A Grown Up. . . Post 1

A friend of mind, now dead to this life, used to talk about being a grown-up.  She didn't use fancy words like "mature" or "wise".  She wanted to be a grown-up and wanted her family to become grown-up people.  I've been wondering about what a grownup person looks like, especially in terms of relationships.

Here are some of my suspicions.  I'll share more as we go along.

I think a grown-up has imagination.  Uses imagination.  Cultivates imagination.

Dean Koontz suggests a quality when he writes:
  “Daily I walk a high wire, always in danger of losing my balance.  The essence of my life is supernatural, which I must respect if I am to make the best use of my gift.  Yet I live in the rational world and am subject to its laws,  The temptation is to be guided entirely by impulses of an otherworldly origin—but in this world a long fall will always end in a hard impact.”  p. 75, FOREVER ODD

I would summarize this way:  a grownup constantly walks valuing the unseen (humility, hope, love, freedom, for instance, as well as the spiritual) and the seen (laws of physics, snotty noses, the need to use the bathroom, job-termination).

A grown up then values parts of relationships he/she cannot see -- loyalty, caring, honesty and trustworthiness come to mind.  This same grownup also values parts of relationships he/she can see -- shows up on time, shovels the snow off my walk when I am ill, takes turns buying lunch or coffee.

Above all a grown-up values humility in herself/himself and in others.  The TV nonsense shows that purport to honor aggressive pride, put-downs and demeaning of others make her or him want to puke.  Well, at least want to turn to another channel.

What do you think?  Do you value grown-up people?  Leave a comment and let us know.