Saturday, September 5, 2009

Comment: Humanity, Ugh

So one of the things I noticed when I was substitute teaching yesterday was, fourth graders are just like ninth graders. At least, in the boys' case. A fourth grade boy is just a miniature fifteen year old: only he’s on the very beginnings of riding the wacky wave of adolescence, which, nowadays, lasts far, far into the twenties.

When I told my husband that the boys had given me a run for my money (giving false names, goofing around, talking, standard issue sub behavior) and that these nine year olds in a small private school were a lot like the fifteen year olds I taught in urban California, he said: of course it’s all the same with these boys, “it’s just a matter of degree.”

So if I understand him right, (and I think that I do), then four year old boys are the same as fourteen year old boys are the same as twenty four year old boys. Zoinks.

When does maturity happen? Is it possible that it never does?

As for girls, the cliquishness starts around age 4, worsens through fourth grade, and peaks in high school. Of course sororities and such happen in college, and from what I’ve heard, they’re no picnic either.

So maybe the bottom line isn’t that boys are immature a lot of the time and girls are cliquey a lot of the time.

Maybe that’s just how we are.

God, what a terrible thought. Are we that obnoxious at our very cores? Are we learning all of this from bad reality TV? Or is reality TV only a reminder of what assholes we generally are?

Is art imitating life, or is life imitating art?

It's on my mind because I watched some more of “Real Chance at Love” today, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the rumour I heard about the guys being actors is probably true. What I wonder is, how many of the women are actresses as well? I’m pretty sure several of them are just in there to mix shit up. But some of them might be real people, non-actors, with a sincere desire to (a) be on television or (b) find love. Which, as we’ve already discussed, seems a highly dubious goal for any kind of TV show. Especially one full of fakers!

So I don’t know, people. What is reality? Who is real?

It’s all a rich tapestry.


(Bonus points if you can tell me where I got that last line.)

1 comment:

  1. Maturity never happens, exactly. Or, to be more precise, maturity is something other people possess or don't, but it's all relative. Suffice to say that you, for example, are probably considered "mature," but you may not so consider yourself. And the "rich tapestry" thing is stumping me for the moment.

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