Forbidden Fruit

Eve came across this little thought last night.

When is the point you realise you have made your little step into so-called adulthood? That is if one can define adulthood in the first place. Frankly, there's a chance there is no defined line between childhood and adulthood. Eve came to one possible litmus test to see if one has "grown up". A simple one actually.

Temptations.

We get them all the time. Be it that rich chocolate cake when you are on a diet, that nice bag that will bust half your pay or that handsome man when you are in a relationship...a man other than your boyfriend of course.

Eve realise it's not a matter of the extent of temptation. Try to hang a chocolate bar in front of a woman in her PMS period. She will probably kill me. I nearly broke a gal friend's heart by asking her to choose lingerie for me because she liked them too. Temptations popped up from the day we had our first cry and will probably last till the day we close our eyes. Temptations started from the creation of Man (according to the bible here)...remember Adam and Eve and that all powerful apple?

When we were young, we were tempted by that new fancy toy on the shelve, the new bag the other classmate got, the pencil that had the latest cartoon motif. When we got a little older, the bag went from latest cartoon to latest brand and design in fashion. The new toy became the latest phone model and the pencil became the latest dress in style. When we got a little more older, the bag got pricier, the toy gained four wheels and the pencil became a black pen with a white flower motif.

Some temptations do cause us a little more distress because there are consequences. For example, you are in a committed relationship and you suddenly meet someone who causes you to think "what if?". That is the time one can almost see your inner angel fighting with your inner devil.

Eve wrote something about delayed gratification some days back. Perhaps this is the line between being young and reckless and not-so-young and reckless.

In youth we succumbed to our temptations more easily albeit for the lack of budget. Consequences were of little consideration or even non-existent. By little here, Eve refers to it in a relative sense to the amount of consideration one would take in the later bit of life. It was more of "Do now, think later."

When we got older, the amount of consideration increased across the board. We think more about doing anything and this extended to temptation as well. We think of the consequences much faster and with greater intensity. We push the brakes, stop and think a little harder...a LITTLE.

Perhaps that is the line between youth and adulthood. That little extra time taken to consider the decisions you make. To Eve, it is the difference between jumping in with your eyes shut or open. It is the difference between going in not knowing what you are getting yourself into versus knowing what one stands to gain and lose and then deciding the final course of action even if the action is wrong. It is the difference of being accountable and responsible for all the decisions one makes because there is little room for the excuse of "I didn't know".

Maybe the destination is all the same...it's simply the journey we take to get there that changed a little...a little :)