Reply #17: On top of that, many "adults" never grew up

[meow2u3]

Many Americans are still children at heart, or at best, perpetual adolescents. They want the privileges of adulthood: sex, drinking, driving, voting, etc., but shirk adult responsibilities, such as self-discipline; self-control; faithfulness (yes, that is an adult responsibility), especially in hard times; accepting the reality that your mate is not an image of your fantasy life, but a human being with real flaws; facing problems in life instead of running from them; etc.

These overgrown kids live by the adage that when the going gets tough, they get going--far, far away.