I Don’t Wanna Grow Up…

I Don’t Wanna Grow Up – Tom Waits

I am not quite sure what made me think of this, but I remember awhile back I watch a documentary about how dogs became dogs and what made them different than wolves. The overall conclusion is that we have essentially taken wolves and forced them to live as puppies for their entire lives.

This point is that in the most common context for animals (the wild), species are force to “grow up” very quickly. In the case of most mammals, the process of growing to physical maturity is at most two years. What we have done with dogs, is we have put them in a situation in which they never have to develop their adult abilities. This is because like the mothers of pups, we (humans) provide our dogs with all of the essential survival tools (food and shelter). Therefore in the dog world, puppies never have to be adults and do things on their own. Although they will grow to full size, they never have to learn the “usual” responsibilities of being a dog.

What actually inspired me to post something on this subject was a tangent of this idea. If you think about it, humans are basically trying to domesticate themselves… we don’t want to grow up. If you look at modern day living and compare it to the past we are continually trying to make things “automatically” provide for us much like a mother does to their pup. It used to be that if you wanted a fire to get warm you had to gather the wood, prepare a spot on the ground, find some tinder, use a flint or means to create a small spark, stoke and build the fire, and then maintain as long as you wanted it lit. Then it was that you just had to chop wood a couple times a year and bring it in the house a couple time a week to your fire place. Now it’s turn a knob a on the wall.

We want to be able to take everything for granted. This may be because we secretly crave to live the life of a child. This is even more exemplified by the ‘celebrity’ lifestyle that is so coveted by so many people. The expression, “they have it made” really mean “they have everything provided to/for them.” Being rich like this is basically the status quo established by capatalism and if it is funny that it amounts to using money to resist aging.

I am not sure exactly how I feel on this subject on whether or not growing up is good thing. I’d sure like to be a kid again, but if no one does it then what?

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