What Is an Adult?

Adulthood is a concept that varies from culture to culture. In the Jewish culture, turning 13 years old invites a ceremony where you are given the title of a man or woman and become an adult. In America, it’s when you turn 18 and are given the right to vote, among others in. There’s a tribe in Africa where becoming an adult is achieved through a ceremony where they make one thousand inch long incisions along your body with a razor blade. Adulthood is many things, but ultimately it is an elevated state of importance within a society.

The Jewish faith has long been described as the world’s first monotheistic religion. This is incorrect, but it does give you an idea of how old the culture is, and how longstanding it’s traditions are. On his or her thirteenth birthday a child is given a ceremony known as Bar Mitzvah if you’re a boy, or a Bat Mitzvah on your 12th birthday if you’re a girl. The ceremony marks that you are a full fledged member of the Jewish community who is now responsible for his or her own actions. The new adult in question reads some verses from the Jewish holy book, either the opening or closing ceremonies from that day’s reading of the Torah, then throws a party out of gratitude for becoming an adult.

The Suri tribe, in Africa is a decidedly violent one. The men and women take great pride in extreme body modification by way of giant lip rings and intense scarification. The scars are produced by first raising the skin with a branch of thorns, then slicing it with a razor. The skin then just hangs out for a while while it turns to scar tissue. The men get their scars from the first time they kill a member of an enemy tribe, signifying that they are a man of the tribe. It is theorized that the reason for this ritual is to get desensitize the young to pain and blood, in preparation for a painful and bloody life.

American culture has a slightly more complex view of adulthood. There are those who would say you’re an adult when you turn 18, because that...