24.5 Does Our Society Need Adulthood Initiation Rituals?

Some societies have a clear demarcation between childhood and adulthood, but perhaps ours does not. Is a person an adult when he or she reaches 18? Legally, an 18-year-old man or woman can marry, go to war, move across the nation, get a full-time job, vote, and do much more. On the other hand, some older persons in refer to twenty-somethings as kids. 

Is delayed adulthood good? Should we even have words like “post adolescence” or “pre-adult” to describe people who are closer to thirty than to twenty? Should we have more clarity, or is everything great as is? In this mini-episode, I have more questions than answers.