Remind me why I wanted to be a grown-up?

I’m surrounded by young people who, as is the nature of young people, are in a hurry to grow up.  They see being “grown up” as this Paradise where no one bosses you around, where you get to have as much candy as you can buy, where there’s no homework, and where you get all the fun, without the responsibility.  I remember viewing “grown ups” that way.  I’m having the kind of week, though, where I keep asking myself “Now, why did I want to be a grown up?”

The key word for being a grown-up — and one that seems to have eluded the OWSers — is responsibility.  When you’re a young adult, you’re responsible for yourself.  As you age, and have children and aging parents, you suddenly start becoming responsible for everyone.  As a card-carrying selfish person, this high level of responsibility goes against the grain.  But still, I do it, because it’s part of being a grown-up.

Kids nowadays have these tremendously attenuated adolescences because they don’t have responsibility.  They might be responsible for homework or sports participation, but that’s pretty much it.  The safety net is always there and they never have a feeling that, “but for me, things might fall apart.” It seems nice, but I’m not sure it’s a good thing for the way the human mind needs to develop.

And on that note, I’ll leave you to contemplate this post at Hot Air, about one young woman’s vision of what it means to be a grown-up — and that way in which Leftist society is outraged that she dare to think so.

Since I’ll be gone for several hours being a responsible grown-up, please consider this an Open Thread.