To be or not to be mature that is the question

“Maturity is a quality defined by ones actions”; we as a society evaluate one another constantly on how we each act. Let me tell you a story that was passed from my grandfather to my father to me and now to you, this is the story of my Grandfather Ragnar Blackmane Rage decorated war hero from Vietnam. My Grandfather was drafted in Lincoln Nebraska along with 30 other 17 years old into the 101 regiment, where they earned the famous nickname, the Jungle Raiders. Early in the War the 101st were being flown over to position alpha omega when a stray anti-air Vietcong missile shot down their U2 para-tooping plane.

My Grandfather told about the absolute horror as seconds after the deafening concussion of sound, a sudden blinding fire ripped through the plane and consumed half the regiment in seconds. Amidst his friends and brother marines dying screams, Ragnar reacted like clockwork grabbing his long time friend Dick Douglas by the shoulder and threw him from the plane’s rear jump hatch. With a mammoth roar that would have chilled the spine of any commy bastard. He leapt. Ragnar streamlined to catch up to Dick as the hapless marine was without a parachute. After a few terrifying seconds Ragnar caught his buddy in a great bear hug and pulled his chute seconds before smashing into the forest canopy. With devastating consequences my grandfather couldn’t hold onto Dick in the last seconds of the fall, Dick plummeted and smashed his head. He was unconscious. Ragnar then saw just one more chute, it was Ben Dover Bezugley!

Terror washes over the two surviving friends as they watched burning ruminants of their U2 burning up in the sky, the fact that dozens of their friends and fellows had died as well as Dick was unconscious possibly in critical condition. Soon rustling and shouts reverberated across the Vietcong controlled territory as scouts had spotted the parachutes falling. Suddenly the trio was ambushed bullets buzzed like pissed off bees flying in all directions amidst the explosions and shrapnel of the grenades. A grenade happened to land at Ragnar’s feet and destroyed his leg with a massive gaping wound the length of your hand. Dick was awakened from his unconscious state by that very same grenade, and dragged Ragnar to a more secure area. Once Dick propped Ragnar up against a tree he raised his much loved M-16 to his shoulder and rang out thirteen times, for thirteen kills, he just rained down on the Vietcong like the hand of God. Even through his pain this decorated Jungle Raider followed through with his well know reputation for being the best shot in Vietnam, blasting the enemy into the godless bits and pieces.

The trio retreated down the Ho Chi Mihn trail where they were ambushed a second time! Ben Dover caught the first grenade and attempted to throw it away, but the day decided to be horrendously unfortunate for the trooper as the grenade hideously blew his arm right off. My Grandfather’s own words “Bezugley was made of sterner stuff than any man I have ever seen,” this rings absolutely true as even though he was miaaing an arm he sacrificed himself and charged into the forest as a distraction for the rest of his trio. My Grandfather spent the next month deep in the hostile jungle battling the occasional Gorilla units, animal life, extreme condition and Mother Nature’s fury in the attempt to reach base command. Dick was said to have had upwards 57 stealth knife kills while Ragnar killed over a 100 of the commy bastards.

Dick and Ragnar were two ordinary Nebraskans who returned to there families and although gone for mere months both looked years older, with creases at their eyes, wrinkles on their face and pain in there heart. A pair of happy young teenagers returned as different and aged men. They survived in absolute horrifying conditions and circumstances. Both survived being bombed in a plane, the loss of an entire unit, the sacrifice of a close friend, and a month in enemy territory. Who could look into their sad almost glazed over eyes and not say, that they had matured?


Maturity (the other one)


Maturity is the wisdom, the awareness of conduct and the capacity to anticipate the consequences of decisions. Maturity isn’t a quantitative property that can be evaluated with a bar graph or statistics, but a quality that requires it’s self to be analyzed, so saying that only the mature can truly evaluate it. Maturity can be applied to an individual, society and even humanity as a whole.


When an individual shows maturity it is usually the wisdom to distinguish what is right or wrong. A mature individual will recognize the wrong in hurting or killing another human being, they will respond to such violence with disgust and desire to right the wrong. The individual will consolidate the hurt and provide for the poor. An individual should understand that stealing is wrong, willfully taking another’s possessions is detrimental to another and ones self. Individuals make up societies with others and they reflect the society’s maturity.


Society experiences maturity as the sum of all its individuals and if they are capable of weighing what is righteous not only for one’s sake but also for the benefit of the rest. In a mature society the majority of members will pursue justice and prosperity. In society, members will have a responsibility to other members, such as protecting the young, teaching proper manners and of course teaching each other to be mature, as it is something that is learned. In a proper society nobody should be judged unfairly for their race, appearance, or any other physical differences, but they should be judged harshly if they commit any act against the society. Society has a responsibility to humanity by electing proper leaders and acting according to world laws.


Humanity reveals maturity as the sum of its societies and the wisdom of their leaders to distinguish right or wrong for the sake of their county and all other countries, by seeing beyond differences for the betterment of man. It is expected of humanities leaders to lead the way to peace and prosperity. Our leaders are to look past petty needs and represent the good in humanity in the face of wrongness. Our leaders represent our societies and as such our individuals, which them means that how every person acts effects the entirety of humanity. Maturity is needed for humanity’s sake as if the individual is immature the society will be immature and the society will elect immature leaders who could start wars, famine or genocide.