Good evening Readers, hope you are all doing well this fine Friday, and that you are able to wind down however you all like with your favorite activities. Whether it be watching a movie, hanging with friends, gaming, reading a good book, or following the latest fad, in this case, becoming a Pokemon master!!!
So with that, I'd like to bring up tonight's topic, the sudden maturity that has risen from the latest trend to overtake the world; I of course am referring to Pokemon.Go. Now as with other popular fads, Pokemon.Go has established a huge active fan base of all ages, mainly of those of us in our late to mid 20's who experienced Pokemon from its beginnings, and has therefore over-taken the social spaces with pictures, posts, and memes. The sudden resurgence of Pokemon with its original fans has just as quickly created a wave of "mature" folks who have apologetically taken to social media to attack and belittle those re-living their childhood with this app.
As this has occurred for a few weeks now, I have come to really think about what it means to be mature, what truly defines a mature person, and does allowing time for your inner child to come out and play completely invalidate your possibility to be a mature individual yourself? Well let's first take a look at what aren't factors of maturity...
1. Age: Contrary to what many tend to think, a person's age does not correlate to their level of maturity. Just as there can be a whiny 40 year old, who incites problems with others, or gives others petty punishments like silent treatments or name calling. There can be young people who forgive and forget, and act calmly and rationally when experiencing pressure. Never assume that just because someone is an adult they are automatically mature, just like you should never discredit someone's opinion simply because they are younger than you as that doesn't necessarily mean they are immature fools by default.
2. Social Status: Another misconception that I see tossed around is people's success or social status being used as a way to measure an individual's maturity. Now, there are many successful individuals who are indeed very mature and well-like in their respective fields because of it. However, there are many CEO's, managers, field specialists, etc whom just because they are good at their job, doesn't mean that they are good at life, so to speak. Just because you are well off in a business sense doesn't mean you can handle things maturely; I myself have had a couple of bosses, who despite their numerous certifications, where very petty and obnoxious when put under pressure.
3. Education: This goes hand in hand with social status, just because someone has a Master's degree or a PhD doesn't necessarily mean that they are more mature than someone who only has a high school diploma. Higher education has never been the equivalent of mental maturity. I can use myself as an example for that, I was way more immature during middle school compared to some elementary school counterparts, just as when I went to High School I found many of my classmates to be more mature than college and university goers, even some I have met this day in age.
4. Appearance: This should be common sense, Like the age old saying goes, "never judge a book by its cover." Just as with social success and education being mistaken for maturity, physical appearance should never be used as a measure for how mature someone is or isn't. Someone in a clean suit and tie isn't guaranteed to be more mature than a man on the street in rags. They may carry themselves a certain way on the outside, that sadly doesn't always reflect how people are on the inside.
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So taking all that into account, look at how we are treating the player base of this new trend, as immature jerks, however, the same people calling out immaturity, are the same who take those weird snapchat dog-face selfies, or play mindless games like candy crush, feeling a sense of mature superiority, because it's something that was popular for KIDS. But I say to you, this is more than just a game, this is a social experience, where we go back to our childhoods, a stage in life where we always looked into tomorrow's next adventures, wide-eyed and loving it! So instead of nostalgically reminiscing about innocent days' past, they are reliving it in their current life whilst dealing with all their responsibilities. This app, has also helped many people get out of their homes and explore places outside of their routine as well as meet people with whom they may have never socialized with. To many this experience is more than just fun, it's become a source of therapy and exercise, becoming that small step into a brighter life! But the lack of compassion in this day makes people get this attitude of almost disgust at seeing others relive their childhoods in such a way. To think other's joy could cause someone so much internal turmoil that they chalk it up to be immature behavior, because to them, being mature means being a slave to your office and never having any fun, and to be perfectly honest, that's not so much maturity, as it is just sad.
Seriously, just this Monday, I was walking by the park by my house, and saw this magnificent scene;
<-- A typically semi-empty park, is now almost always filled with people sharing their Pokemon stories and catching tips. At one point in time is was dangerous to walk this park after 9-10pm, now everyone looks out for each other and keeps an eye out for rare Pokemon, and when they do they don't keep it to themselves, they announce it for all to hear and work together to get to the needed destination safely.
Any how, as I was saying before, earlier this week, after seeing the above scene I got home only to hear a rumbling of feet coming towards my house, the rumble soon was drowned out by a chant, a repetitive mantra perfuming the air, it was one word, "Dragonite!!" I knew then that one fo the rarest mons was close to my home, and I knew I had to burst out the door and join this Pokemon master mob to victory, after jogging for a kilometer with the mob, hatching an egg and getting a Machop to join my cause along the way, and that's when I saw him, DRAGONITE!!!
<-- I reaped the rewards of that last minute lastly hunt, and got an invaluable Pokemon for my collection. After everyone caught their dragon comrade, we all walked back to the well lit part of town together making sure everyone was back safe before I head back home. This type of interaction is not immaturity, it's a beautiful return to the simpler days of playing outside, and that is something I fully support.
Whether you like Pokemon or not, you need to be able to see the wonderful effect that this is having on us as a people, excluding the idiots who walk into oncoming traffic or off the edge of a dock, as they ruin it for everyone.
Just like not all cops are racists, and not all Muslims are terrorists, not all Pokemon masters are immature dicks. Mature people don't generalize after-all haha. Just some food for thought.
In the end, this should have been a "Wachi Rant" seeing as it was pretty sloppy, but in the end I just wanted to say my peace. If you want to be the mature person, make peace not war, be open for communication, respect other's opinions, find joy in other people's happiness. (I mean so long as they aren't psycho killers whom are happy about having just spilled an innocent person's blood, that happiness you can be against, no judgment there), and last but not least, mature people do not judge others, people who judge are essentially playing God, and that air of arrogance or superiority should not be confused for being more or less mature.
As always, Much Love,
Wachi
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