By Christina Koontz, Guest Columnist
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One of the last things a co-worker said to me when I left the Cherokee Scout in January 2006 was, “Hurry back now.” Almost 18 years later, I haven’t made it back and feel time quickly passing by.
I’ve been teaching college English courses since 2010, literature being my favorite. Setting involves time and place, both of which are on my mind more and more.
My literature students understand what I mean when I say the word “theme.” Of course, you may remember, too, if you watch A Christmas Story every year, as I do, because Miss Shields asks Ralphie and his class to write one. My theme isn’t necessarily “What I Want for Christmas,” but I do have a wish or three.
The word “adulting” came into fashion several years ago and, according to Dictionary.com, while it literally means taking on adult responsibilities, most sarcastically relate it to 30-year-old moochers still living in their parents’ homes playing video games or earning money posting videos. Others mock themselves as they try to perform everyday tasks.
Like nails on a chalkboard, when people say it I cringe, because I wonder what happened to cause young people to be so unready – or unwilling – to enter adulthood. Maybe successive generations are less capable and needier than their hardier ancestors as they rely more on technology. Maybe they “work smarter, not harder.” Whatever the case, my first wish isn’t to remove adulting from dictionaries, but to change it back to the original definition.
I tell students every semester they’ll be responsible for meeting deadlines. I explain how I never missed a publishing deadline – even on Sept. 11, 2001 – and that they’re in a college class and will be treated like adults, even though I teach many dual-enrollment high school students who definitely aren’t. Their idea of what it means to be one is different from mine, of course.
Generation gaps are to blame in part. Entitlement has become a dirty word, with some students expecting something for nothing, and time management isn’t even in their vocabulary. College picks up where high school leaves off. But another wish I have is for schools to better prepare students for life outside their hallowed halls.
When I left journalism, social media and online discussion forums were just becoming popular, and Twitter (now X) wasn’t even a thing until July 2006. In the ensuing years, young and old alike have lost themselves in their desire to collect friends, likes and subscribers.
Young people, especially, are suffering from a lack of social skills. The pandemic added to the problem, creating a generation of youths who would rather be home than in a public space. Learning to be an adult through a computer screen isn’t ideal. My next wish is for more parents to tell their children to “go outside and play,” and stop caring whether people they don’t even know “like” them.
When people live through young adulthood, middle age and into old age, they have experienced much and can teach youngsters a thing or two about responsibility, the Golden Rule and making lifelong friends. Being an adult when you’re over age 70 comes with challenges, though.
Various celebrities have been credited with the following quote, including Mae West: “Getting old isn’t for the faint-hearted.” The brain may be in good working order, but the body isn’t willing. Or, worse, the opposite happens. As a teenager, I was a caregiver for my granny after high school, so I know what it’s like to see mental and physical decline.
My last wish is for older folks to be treated like the adults they are regardless of their situations. That may seem obvious, but I’ve seen firsthand how the elderly are sometimes treated like children. Whether they are active members at church, work part time, sleep their days away in bed or doze in front of a noisy TV, they are still adults and deserve deference.
I’m especially addressing health-care workers, government employees and workers in general. Treat others as you’d want to be treated.
Adulting, then, simply means being an adult, performing everyday tasks to the best of one’s ability. Unlike Ralphie, the things I want for Christmas aren’t physical gifts wrapped in shiny red paper foil. They won’t be the greatest Christmas gift I ever received (that’s a monkey named Charlie) or would ever receive, to paraphrase Jean Shepherd. But I can still wish. Merry Christmas.
Christina Koontz of Georgia is a former editor of the Cherokee Scout. She was Tina Hughes of Ranger then.