...But Never Grow Up

"A geek isn't the skinny kid with a pocket calculator and acne. There can be computer geeks, video game geeks, car geeks, military geeks and sports geeks. Being a geek just means that you're passionate about something."
- Olivia Munn

So I remember this one speech teacher I had back in high school. She left in the middle of the school year, citing personal reasons. The details were very vague so I won't be filling in the blanks. However, there's one phrase she said during one of our last classes that would remain with me forever:

"Grow old, but never grow up."

I'll never credit it to that one statement, but personally I spend a ton in buying stuff I know I'll probably never use. Ever since I got a Paypal account last year, my room became a stockroom of sorts.Impractical, yes, but who cares?

I'm not sure if it's the inner packrat or the inner child that takes over whenever this happens, but I'm sure a lot of folks could relate. Some of the sanest and most rational people I know have interests that most of the world would scoff at. I guess some of us retain that part of ourselves that doesn't want to grow up. There's that part that still wants to stay irresponsible, immature, childish and carefree.

It's the same part of us that doesn't really care about what others think. I think some people would only dare to reveal that aspect of themselves when they grow older. That's one of the perks of growing up. Ironic, isn't it?

This is probably one thing that people without hobbies would never understand. It's sad that a lot of folks are content with whatever is being fed to them and that they're unwilling to shake things up a bit or go back to those parts of their youth that they feel they've missed.

This Cracked article got me thinking. These are indeed interesting times because society has become more tolerant and more importantly because we're starting to turn things that we've only dreamt of as children into reality. It's interesting because the ideas being presented are from a generation that we could relate to and whose ideas are fitting for the times.

Ultimately, I guess that's one of the keys in keeping ourselves satisfied and reaching goals that fulfill us - to never grow out of things we love.