Perceptions of Adulthood

To a four year old,
Adults are big people,
The ones to run to
When we get hurt,
The heroes we look up to,
Powerful and strong,
And the ones who demand quiet
When they would like to play.

As we enter our teens
Adults are the ones
Who set the limits
We must challenge,
The ones whose words
Often don’t fit their actions,
The ones whose rules
Are made to be bent.

By the time we reach sixteen,
Adults are the ones
Who hold the money
And have power over our lives,
And we resent their control.
They are often out of date
And out of touch with our reality,
And we can’t wait to become one.

As a young college student
Adults are the ones
Who have finished school,
The ones who have real jobs
And are making money,
The ones who don’t have to hassle
With exams at every turn,
The ones free to do what they want.

When we finally graduate
And find ourselves
One of the adults,
It is seldom as free and easy
As thought is was going to be.
There is a lot of work to do,
Responsibilities, obligations,
Taxes and bills to pay.

As an adult, we may look back
Romancing the freedom we had
When we were young,
The absence of responsibility,
The lack of obligation,
The opportunities we wasted,
Forgetting what it was really like
To be that age.

Who is to say
What adulthood is?
We can see plenty of adults
Acting like kids,
And plenty of kids
Trying to act like adults,
But few people at any age
Content with the way they are.