Who deserves to be taken seriously?
First we are taught, "adults," but then we grow up and realize that can't possibly be correct. Then we learn "the people in positions of power," but then we either get to know them or we become them, and we know that that can't be right, either.
Media representations are somewhat unclear. President Bartlet from West Wing? Lord Vetinari from Discworld? Maybe, but translating the qualities we consider heavily weighted into real life remains a bit challenging.
In middle school, I said having kids wasn't for me, and was told by a teacher "oh, you'll change your mind!"
I have not.
In my first jobs, I had many suggestions that were met with a nod and a "moving on," but were eventually implemented by someone else.
Someone taken more seriously, I guess.
When I finished writing my first book, I thought, "This is it. Now I am a serious writer." And yet, no one showed up to give me my membership badge.
Several published books later, I remain badgeless, but I'm thinking of making one out of cardboard.
This week, I turned 30. Surely, I said to myself, this is the part of life where I can finally be taken seriously. Surely by now I am simply wandering around trailing gravitas, and I just don't know it yet.
This does not seem to be the case.
Maybe, if I live to be very old, it will finally happen.
But I doubt it
Is it me? Is it because I'm a woman, or scrawny, or quirky, or artsy, or queer? I doubt it (though they have, no doubt, sometimes been contributing factors). Rather, I think that being a Serious Adult, or a Serious Writer, or a Serious Force To Be Reckoned With, are not binary states. So few things are.
So the next time I sit down accomplish something and ask myself if it, or I, will be taken seriously, I'm going to answer with "Aw, who friggin' cares."
And whatever it is, I'll just get it done.
