Grow up

Peter Pan has been asking why people have to grow up for a very long time. He lived on an island that kept him young and boyish while Wendy aged. He played, crowed, and had sword fights with Pirates and Indians (I don't think the term "Native American" applies here since they're not technically in America.)

This is starting off like a post about continually embracing the child in all of us, but it's not. Because Peter Pan now has a psychological disorder named after him.

While Peter Pan Syndrome is not recognized by the American Psychological Association or listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as an actual mental condition (that's right, I went there), the understanding of what it represents is clear: a man immune to the reality of ageing and responsibility, whose emotional development has remained at the adolescent level. This man typically shields himself from the outside and, in some cases, does so in his mother's basement until he's 45 with quests and adventures in World of Warcraft. Nothing inherently wrong with Azeroth, just don't think your accomplishments there mean anything to anybody else in the real world.

While the guy in his mom's basement may have become normal (my younger brother is currently taking up residence in a 2nd floor bedroom of our parents' house while he looks for lawyering jobs), it is really a matter of denial: Denial that there are real problems; Denial that you may not really be as awesome as you thought you were in high school; Denial that you may lose a job; Denial that you will hear the word No.

Peter Pan grew up into Robin Williams and spent an enjoyable movie coming to terms with himself both as the boy he was and the man and father he had become. It wasn't easy, but it's something we all must do.

There is a place for Azeroth with adults; just not between the hours of 9 and 5. Otherwise, this is our future:

And this is in no way an exaggeration.