Does the World Have a Maturity Problem?

Do “adults” in America and all over the world need to grow up?

While I was driving I thought of something Stephen Covey said about maturity and it got me thinking.  Maybe there are a lot of people who are adults biologically who haven’t reached maturity mentally.

People talk about a warm fuzzy interdependence among the people of earth.  It’s a nice idea in theory, but in practice people are way off the mark.

The people of this planet are not nearly mature enough to have a true interdependence.

For instance, it bothers me when people misuse the phrase “we are all one” suggesting it has something to do with collectivism. The bastardize a wise insight. They reduce it down to dismal political theories of how society should be centrally planned.

It seems that everybody is talking about what they think would be good for everybody.  Yet, most people can’t even figure out their own lives.

We, We, We … Everybody ought to

Just look at the news and the television. Listen to the radio. Read the comments sections of blogs and news sites.

People are always saying things like…

“We should all get…”

“Nobody should ever…”

“It should be required that everyone…”

“There ought to be a law…”

“That should be a right…”

People want one size fits all solutions.  They want everyone to act the way they think they should.  Furthermore, many people want the government to enforce this one size fits all solution.

Many feel it is government’s role to provide for them.   Since government gets their money from productive people’s paychecks, they are essentially saying their neighbors should provide for them.

All of the examples above are self-importance, laziness and cowardice. It’s the easy way out.

Immaturity Disguised As Philosophy

When people say everybody ought to behave and think the way they do, it’s basically saying that their way is the best way. In reality, it’s people being scared of things that are different, so they come up with a lazy way of creating a “solution” by changing everyone else (by force).

Then there are those who think that food, education, healthcare, housing, employment and even a car is a right…and the government should provide it.   This is humongous arrogance, tremendous cowardice, gigantic ignorance and overwhelming laziness.

When one says such and such privilege ought to be a right, what they are  really saying is he’s such hot stuff that whether or not he lifts a finger to earn any of these things or provide for himself, other people should provide it for him.

These people think pretty highly of themselves. They are entitled to get all of these things regardless of effort, production or results. They believe they are entitled to it and it is you who must provide it. After all, they have a “right” to it.

Wait a minute.  If you work and your money goes to provide these goods and services to these people who do not work and contribute, then who is paying for yours?  You are paying for that too.  So, why not just stop working and grab all the “rights” you can get?

There is a little problem. If everyone felt like these lazy jerks, there would be no money to provide all of these “rights” and nobody would be working to produce them.

So, yes, there is a maturity problem on this planet.  There are too many 30, 40, 50+ year old adolescents who are spoiled, self-important, lazy cowards.  They are too scared to live an authentic life without training wheels.

Maturity & The Foundation for Interdependence

They are always talking about “we” when they talk about life. When people say “we” they think they are talking about interdependence.

We this and we that. Yet they want to depend on other people and the government to provide the so-called solutions.  They rarely come up with a solution that is all about their own lives.  It’s all too often the above examples (a) change everyone to my way of thinking and behaving (b) let my neighbors provide for me.

This is called dependence.

This is called immaturity.

As Steven Covey points out, you can’t get to real interdependence until people reach independence.

Authentic interdependence is all about voluntary collaboration. It’s about combining efforts and resources to produce a result that is greater than to sum of its parts.

You simply can’t accomplish this without participants who possess a high degree of independence.

When people are dependent on others to provide for them and get by, they cannot be relied on to contribute toward the achievement of a higher goal through voluntary interdependence.  These people are either unable or unwilling to contribute to solving their own problems and getting by on their own.   Therefore, in this case true interdependence is a fantasy.

However, when people become independent, the world opens itself up to the potential of great things by way of this voluntary interdependence and collaboration.

Here is the catch. It takes a certain level of maturity to become independent.  It requires maturity to think for oneself, act for oneself, earn money for oneself, provide for oneself and realize happiness for oneself.

Then and only then can people attain their ideas of a true interdependence among people of the world.

Despite this, people continue to turn to politicians for answers and remain stagnant in their path to a higher degree of personal independence.    They want the answers to be applied to everyone else.

There is a maturity problem on this planet.  If people want to achieve a unity among people, they need to look toward personal independence and voluntary association.