Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The Mark of Maturity

It occurred to me the other day that there is one thing that, to me at least, marks how mature someone is or isn't. That mark is the ability to find positive things in times or objects or environments that are markedly unpleasant or negative.
Think about a teacher yelling at you. It's obviously a negative thing, but the more mature people I know will be able to step back from it, and say "Well, at least she's taking interest in my project." or "At least she's giving good tips." or "At least now I know how I don't want to act if I'm ever teaching."

It just seems to me that the more immature you are, the more you're focusing on how something appears, and less on trying to find more depth in any given situation.

So, what do you think? Do you think I'm totally off my rocker, that I'm obviously a genius, or somewhere in between?

2 comments:

Sharon said...

You know, kiddo - it is a mark of maturity to be able to look beyond your own head and see the bigger picture. Sometimes that means you see the good in a crappy situation, but that can also mean that you can see the impending danger in what looks like a good thing. Either way, not focusing just on what you are feeling or thinking, but looking beyond is the mature thing.

Katie Charland said...

I think that could more been seen as dividing up pessimists and optimists, not mature and immature, although it does differentiate between mature and immature too!