Me? Immature? Really?

Katherin Kersten had an interesting post at her Star Tribune blog today. Kersten thinks they don't make young males like they did in the good old days.

Instead of getting a blue-collar job, we play video games. Instead of turning 21 and marrying our high school sweetheart, we do keg stands. Instead of going to church, we watch football and listen to Howard Stern.

Kersten doesn't see an end in sight to this madness. She writes: The prospects for restoring adult norms seem dubious. Affluence and the extension of higher education are facts of life. So are proliferating media that cater to the lowest common denominator. Moreover, it’s hard to imagine that we’ll regain our cultural confidence in the language of virtue, which spoke to young men about their duties to women and children, and the need for deferral of pleasure.

Despite coming across a little like an out of touch nursing home resdient, Kersten makes some good points. However, she needs to look outside the box a bit. What are the "adult norms" that Kersten seems to want restored? It seems like she would prefer young men to get married young, start a family soon after and dedicate most of their time and energy to the nuances of raising said family.

There's nothing wrong with choosing that path in life. But I don't think it occured to Kersten that there's probably a reason most young men are shunning this path. My guess is a lot of them saw their father's choose Kersten's preferred path for young males and swore that they would try something else. They didn't want to spend their entire adult life at a job they hated. They wanted to be 100 percent sure they were making the right decision before getting married. And, thankfully, they wanted to be absolutely certain they were 100 percent ready before having a child. Most young men these days want to be sure they are happy in life so they can in turn do a better job at bringing joy to the live's of others.

I'm a 26-year-old male that Kersten would probably roll her eyes at. I blow money on beer, gambling and electronic gadgets. I spend many evenings and weekend afternoons watching sports. I enjoy video games and watching old videos of 1980s professional wrestling. While I'm doing all of this, I'm also maturing, and that's what Kersten seems to have a hard time grasping.

Just because I enjoy many of the same things I enjoyed while still in high school, it doesn't make me a dredge on society. I've got two great jobs and I place a lot of emphasis on my faith, family and friends. Eventually, I'm sure I'll meet Kersten's definition of a solid young man. Until then, I'm going to enjoy meeting my own definition of what makes a solid young man. In the long run, it'll help me do a better job of meeting hers.