"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became an adult, I put away childish things."

For several years now, people have told me that I acted and behaved older than my age. I don't mean to brag about this, but it's given me an interesting perspective on notions of adulthood, and where one draws the line between child and adult. I've always socialized outside of any age restrictions, making friends among younger children and my age peers as easily as men and women of 30, 40 or 50, but I've always considered myself a child, even among people only a year or two older than I am, until recently. This trip has really brought into focus the fact that I am becoming one of the college students that came across to me as almost a higher caste. The quotation I began with, in my interpretation at least (because there is no meaning in the text ~_^), brings out an important fact in Paul's growth: he no longer perceives himself as a child, but as an adult. The bit that Paul leaves out is that putting away childish things isn't very simple. It takes a lot to look at what you've known and say goodbye, casting aside that which has been with you through many difficult and formative years. Walking down 125th St. today (yes, I'm in Manhattan at the moment, but leaving for Maine in the morning), I realized that the people I passed by were not looking at me as a child, but as just some guy walking down the street. I'm starting to see that guy too, and I think he'll do alright for what's in store.