Once, when I was in school, I along with my group of friends,
was discussing who should win the 2019 parliamentary elections. We were
discussing on the stuff the candidates had done. Suddenly, our teacher arrived
and was curious to know what we were discussing on. I told her that we were
discussing about politics.
She further asked us that how many of us had political
opinions. Everyone of us raised hands.
Then, she further asked, how many of us really owned our
opinions. Some of the hands, including mine went down. This is because most of
our opinions were based on what our parents, teachers or mass media had fed in
our subconscious mind. Hardly anyone of us had researched about the facts and
figures independently.
So, that’s the reason, I came up to write this article. The
decision to write about this topic wasn’t all of a sudden. It was a topic I was
thinking to write about since a long time. In school time, it didn’t matter,
but when I started with my college life, it begun to matter. Things started to
seem as if I had woken up from a deep sleep.
If you get to migrate to another town for your further
education, you’re lucky. You get to meet a different set of people and the life
gives you a second chance to bring a change to your personality.
So yes, the biggest difference I realized was; that toppers of
all classes are really dumb “yes, Ma’am/ Sir” kind people and they always wish
to get the best possible jobs no matter what the outcomes are.
But, let’s take the term maturity on another level.
What is maturity and what it means in real?
Here are 3 factors to determine one’s maturity.
1.
Owning Your Opinions
Coming back to the situation I discussed in the beginning, a
person is not mature enough if he doesn’t have enough sense to analyse what is being
fed into his mind. He is like a ship without rudder.
I’ve several friends and further, I’ve also interacted with
several of my elders. Some are into the undergraduate courses, while some are
even done with their post graduation. Their topics of discussion tell it all.
I once heard a bunch of my cousins judging the ambience of
their colleges by the food outlets their campuses had. Your criteria of judging
things determine your maturity.
I’ve several friends who don’t speak their minds, rather
just reflect what their parents were discussing at the homes.
Obedience is fine and you might respect your parents. But it
is not mandatory that they’re always right. You should keep your opinions. Perhaps,
you might save them as well from mistakes.
We need to develop the domestic infrastructure where the children
of parents are brought up with more open mindedness.
2.
Speaking one’s own words
One of my friends came up the other day when there were some
riots by the students broadcasted on television. He exclaimed that why are the
students involved in politics. He further stated that they should focus on
their studies.
I immediately got that he might’ve heard such discussion at
his home and was just uttering that.
I replied that even though, they were manipulated by being
divided into left and right wing and were misusing their powers; yet it doesn’t
mean that the power is wrong. I further asked him whether he had such zeal to
stand up for his rights. He had no answer.
Let’s take another instance. A classmate of mine is also of
the same type. She achieves good marks and feels that they’re the only things
which will help her in the long run.
Let me tell you how she talks. She once called the financial
markets ‘gambling’. I asked her why she meant that. She had no answer. She
insisted that you cannot predict what is going on in future.
I said that what is predicted is based on specific tools and
techniques along with taking past trends in account. This is so dumb for a
commerce student to carry these beliefs.
Once, we were planning our Sunday to a place nearby and she
said, “hume abhi itna pata nahin hota. Hume apne parents ke saath jaana
chahiye.” Now, a world record of travelling to all the countries is being held
by a nineteen-year-old. On the other hand, we have students like these.
3.
Having a rational point of view
A child not taught to think can be easily manipulated, exploited
or even abused. What would such a child do rather than crying if something
wrong happens to him? He is not taught to be bold.
Teaching children to respect elders is fine, but the elder
also needs to be qualified enough.
Whenever we form an opinion, we should consider the facts
and figures, rather than just looking at others. This is the main difference
between leaders and servants. Just because some people don’t have their own
opinions, they are destined to serve others who have opinions.
Summing Up
To sum it up simply, having wisdom determines one’s
maturity. It is usually expected from people throughout their childhood that
any student who is following his elders and keeps quiet all the time is the
ideal student. But it doesn’t condition a person for a long-term life. One’s
life is not a spoon-fed meal. Life is full of challenges and teaching teens and
young adults to be people pleasers might keep them unaware in a euphoric
utopia. Hence, every youngster should consider the opinions of others, yet
should try to develop them on his own as well. One can expose himself to
different mediums, like reading or watching informative content.