Signs of Maturity Swati Lee Kurnia These days I have been dismal with the fighting between notorious

authorities in this country. They are all grownups for goodness sake! Now I am au fait with the frustrated Gus Dur when he said that some foremost senators acted like kindergartener. Usually when we refer someone as a grownup, we employ a certain age limit. In Indonesia, a 17 year-old is considered a grownup. Thus, at work, in the market place, in the parliament, in the government, and everywhere, we (supposedly) are surrounded by mature people. Are we really? Now lets take a look at the definition of maturity. According to the Free Dictionary, maturity is the state of being fully grown or developed. The dictionary.com defines maturity as full development, perfected condition. So in other word, when a person is mature, he/she is fully developed and perfected as human. Is 17 years enough to perfect a human? Biology-wise, yes it may be enough, but what about moral-wise? Biology-wise, we all are growing old naturally. However, as we often observe, old people are not necessary morally wise. As the saying goes; growing old is inevitable, but growing up is optional. Life is a learning process. Prof. Seligman describes that the period between infancy and our last years is a process of emerging from helplessness and gaining personal control. This means the process of growing up is to emerge from utter ignorance to gaining personal control. Gaining personal control denotes various virtues such as being able to respect the authority, realizing functional reality, responsibility, and integrity. The list of virtues may be longer than this, nevertheless, for simpler contemplation, I ponder upon these four desirable qualities. Respect for authority signifies a level of maturity beyond adolescent. It requires lofty self control. One is able to respect the authority when he can see the whole picture of what is going on and realize his/her functional reality in a proper way. A mature person accepts the world on its term. Should some things go not according to his expectation, he would have two options, to go with the flow and deal with it or to fix it in a matured manner. Immature children would try to get all they want at all cost, whatever possibly done, by trantrum, outburst, spasm, or convulsion. They would go with their combat even though this may harm innocent people. When eventually they hurt other people, they never feel remorse, not to mention responsible. All they care is their own ego. As long as they get what they want, they are happy. Integrity is some bizarre concept for them. Integrated individuals balance their heart and head, live a principled life, commit to certain moral values, and put the values to work. Babyish folks do not grasp the meaning of integrity. For them, life is a matter of amusing play ground where they do not have to apply any noble merit. They just follow the rule of the play ground, whoever stronger wins! It needs a strong will to grow up, as being mature doesnt happen automatically. Civilized society can only be built by mature people. Is Indonesia considered a civilized society? Now you tell me whether the hostility between those famed authorities is worth the fighting, and whether they are all grownups.