On Being an Adult Child
Tracy Morgan is an adult child. He acts like a child, often doesn’t make sense, has little awareness of his actions, and even less concern for the consequences of his actions. He has been called stupid, idiotic, and a buffoon. Yet, he is a celebrity with millions of dollars.
Despite his childlike behavior, people like him. Imagine being Tracy’s parents for a moment. They must have had to punish and yell at him nearly constantly, trying to get him to behave like a responsible adult. Like most parents, they probably feared that if he didn’t grow up and mature like most adults do, that he’d end up jobless, homeless, and generally a complete mess. I can sympathize with that fear - it makes sense.
But what if Tracy Morgan did grow up? What if he learned to become responsible, self-aware, and adult-like? Would we still have the funny Tracy that we know and sort of love? Would he still be able to say such crazy things without regard for the consequences if he was always concerned with his reputation? What if he was politically and socially correct all the time? What if he only spoke in ways that made complete sense? This sounds utterly boring. We have billions of adults alive at any moment. So many people live in fear, smothered by structure, and surrounded with limitations and invisible boundaries. Why not let one person live free from these constraints to just be a child again?
Besides, adults love seeing other adults act like kids. I think that deep down, adults are jealous. It tugs at the nostalgia of our youth, helping us to remember the days when we too could act with reckless abandon. We want to be that kid on screen, seemingly unconcerned with the frivolities of adulthood. Adulthood is often boring and predictable. Yet, kids say and do the darndest things. We love watching children play. They aren’t bound by the rules of logic, the confines of reality, or by somebody else’s doubts about their abilities. They’re all like little superheroes in their own mind, and isn’t that a wonderful thing?
I think that we are able to shift this love of children to a simple adoration and respect for adults who are childlike. Perhaps they are childlike intentionally, or perhaps, they are simply incapable of growing up. Maybe they have a learning disability. Maybe they have difficulty discerning between reality and fantasy. Maybe they enjoy life more when they don’t feel trapped by the handcuffs of society with its rules and expectations. Whatever their reason, this is who they are. Instead of judging, ridiculing, manipulating or taking advantage of them, we can learn to enjoy them, protect them, and learn from them. No, we can’t have an entire world full of Tracy Morgans - that would be insane. But the world is a more interesting place for having Tracy Morgan in it. I believe that we have enough adults running around in this world, trying to follow the rules. Instead, let’s celebrate the few childlike adults that peak our curiosity, raise our interest, and sometimes force us to look at life a little differently than we were.
A little different can be a very good thing.
