“Most of us don’t mind doing what we ought to do when it doesn’t interfere with what we want to do, but it takes discipline and maturity to do what we ought to do whether we want to or not.”

— Joseph B. Wirthlin

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We live in an age of great immaturity.

Be it in governance, academics, medicine, finance, faith or the home, irresponsibility and lack of accountability are running over everything near and dear about our America

There are certain behaviors that are stand-out sanctuaries for the immature. You can use this list to check yourself:

• ANGER— It comes to us naturally with no training or practice necessary. It’s an “instant-on” source of power and control. The problem is that anger is also highly addictive, causes collateral damage, and – very importantly – destroys the container that carries it.

• PERSONAL INSULTS— A favored immaturity card in our culture is the use of ridicule and scorn to harm others. It hurts, but it rarely works to do much beyond corrupting the soul of the mocker. True cleverness does not come so cheaply.

• MENDACITY— We live in a time when lying in one form or another has become socially acceptable behavior. Witness our current president for an example of someone who has lost all connection to the construct of truth. The problem is that nothing good survives without the nurturing foundation of truth – absolutely nothing.

• MENTAL ILLNESS— Most mental health issues are either triggered, amplified, or sustained by the toxic influences of immaturity. Trying to address mental health problems without an emphasis on personal responsibility and accountability is tough if not impossible.

• NARCISSISM— Take a quick inventory. How much time do you spend thinking about you –your issues, your dreams, your pains, your anything? If it’s above 80 percent, take care that you are not surrendering to the temptations of intense self-absorption and self-worship – America’s latest, greatest social epidemic. The deeper into this script one gets, the darker one’s actions become. Need a “think about me’ visual line of demarcation? Keep “me” thoughts below 50 percent.

• JUDGEMENTALNESS— Judgement and condemnation are favored pastimes of a lot of folks. When you include self-rejection, a whole lot more. The Bible suggests a better model – reject the sin, not the sinner, and leave the judgment and condemnation business to higher authority. Challenging behavior is fine. Attacking people – others or ourselves – isn’t.

• DRUGS— No matter what popular mythology sells; people rarely stumble into ingesting a foreign object that all evidence in every movie and commercial on the planet confirms as toxic, dangerous and addictive. That takes a conscious decision. You may land as a victim of your own folly, but you start that slide with a choice to be reckless. Would everyone that has seen druggery elevate anyone please raise their hand?

• EXTRAVAGANCE— Wanting what we want, when we want it, and how we want it is materialistic immaturity. Our culture’s obsession with things puts us in debt, distracts us from more productive enterprises, and has effectively bankrupted America. For a front-row seat into the consequences of the latter, look up what a ‘trillion’ dollars is and how much we owe the world.

• RACISM— Any man who judges another by his color – something over which no one has control – is a buffoon. Any man who fails to appraise another by his character, choices, and convictions, likewise. In today’s sleepy-headed “woke” America, we’re swapping one form of racism for another. Don’t believe it? Look at Asheville’s equity, reparations, and other racially charged special interest investments of public funds. See the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for clarification.

• ENTITLEMENT & VICTIMIZATION —  The idea that one is uniquely burdened and thus deserves a special deal is immature thinking at its finest. Blaming others for where we land in life may feel good, but it runs entirely against the messages of nature. There have been too many people born in a diseased ditch in India who have risen above their tragedy for any of the rest of us to hoist up our victim flag. Maturity finds us realizing that one cannot be equal and entitled at the same time. We all have to climb out of a ditch.

Want to get a leg up on the maturity challenge? Do three things:

(1) Remember that personal choices are the number one determinant of how our life turns out. Make smart choices.

(2) Some days it seems like everyone in the world is crazy. Be independent – you don’t have to join them.

(3) Please note that the immaturity traits mentioned above are the foundation constructs of the Democratic Party’s platform, policies and practices. Reconsider that affiliation.

Dodging the temptations of immaturity is not easy, but what about life really is? Just ask your neighborhood squirrel, bear, rabbit, dove or field mouse — and then ponder why you should be set-up for a better deal.