*Growns*

The question of what constitutes adulthood has been the subject of much reflection lately. The commencement of adolescence is easy enough to pinpoint; it begins with the frightening appearance of body hair, the annoying cracking of one's voice at inopportune times, and the realization that girls are really actually pretty interesting.

Unfortunately, no such yardstick exists for the next stage in a man's life. On paper, or in a court of law, it is sufficient to assign an age. However, if you put an eighteen year old in a room with half a dozen fourty year olds, there clearly is a difference. But what are the important differences? How does he command respect and authority from someone twice his age? Can there ever be real equality between the two groups?

Is the realization that a person is no longer part of "us" but the older "them" an ephemeral "aha" moment? Or is it more of a gradual transition where you wake up one morning and try to figure out when it happened? Parenthood would be a useful marker, except that not everyone has children. Do these people go their whole lives without this paradigm shift?