For adult eyes only

I read "For adult eyes only" by weekly ST Essay online.


a. The words I did not know.

1)ruminate

Sentence:
As my son grows up, I've been ruminating on what becoming an adult really means these days.

Definition:
to think carefully and deeply about something

Synonyms:
think about, contemplate, consider,


2)recently

Sentence:
Though I've legally been an adult for decades, it seems to me that only recently have I begun to give the term serious thought.

Definition:
not long ago

Synonyms:
lately, of late, a short time ago,


3)coincide

Sentence:
Coming of age ceremonies usually coincided with the physical maturity to reproduce, as early as 11 or 12.

Definition:
to happen at the same time as something else, especially by chance

Synonyms:
occur simultaneously, happen together, happen at the same time; tally, correspond, agree, accord, concur, match, fit;


4)ironically

Sentence:
Ironically, in our day and age, if 12-year-olds so much as whisper about sex, they are treated as juvenile delinquents.

Definition:
used when talking about a situation in which the opposite of what you expected happens or is true:
used in reference to a paradoxical, unexpected, or coincidental situation

Synonyms:
in irony, sarcastically,


5)tacitly

Sentence:
It is tacitly understood that an adult will act in a manner that demonstrates foresight, consideration and social responsibility, though I know some 10-year-olds who behave this way, and some 50-plus folk who are still learning the ropes.

Definition:
tacit agreement, approval, support etc is given without anything actually being said:

Synonyms:
in a roundabout way, by implication, (?)


6)chronological years

Sentence:
Becoming an adult in the deeper sense seems to me to be a long process, one that cannot be achieved by wearing ceremonial costumes, by smoking and driving, or by counting chronological years.

Definition:
a person's chronological age is how old they actually are, rather than how old their mind or body seems

Synonyms:
chronological age



c. Comments about the essay.

I think that to be an adult is to be who can decide what I want to do.
Adults are freedom.
Some of adults say that "Adults have many things what we must do."
But I think it is not right.
If they do what they really don't want to do, they do not decide what they do.
Maybe, they do what somebody decides.
Or they don't realize why they do that.
"The creative adult is the child that has survived." is good words.
But I think it means that adults underestimate about children.
Why do we forget what we were thinking while we were children?
We had realized what we wanted to do and had done it then.
The words might be born in jealousy.