Me, a pedophile?
Perhaps I have explaining to do. I have been accused by some people of being a pedophile, mainly because of the people I choose to “hang out” with. While I do hang out and consider myself friends with younger people, I would like to say I do not hang out with them because they are younger. This is merely out of consequence. Most of them are people who I believe could be older, but because of the time they were born, they're not.
To be honest, I am not a fan of immaturity. I don't like it, especially when stupid games are played or stupid things are said. I enjoy people who are mature, down-to-earth and level-headed, but not to the point where they're overbearing. I am a fan of moderation. I like realistic people who find wonder in life, down-to-earth people who are not afraid to put their head in the sky, and level-headed people who are in touch with their emotions. To put it another way, in many people I find aspects which I enjoy. These people may be 17 or whatever, but if I enjoy things about them, I often don't pay attention to how old they are. I don't pay attention because I feel it isn't very important
Why isn't it important? Because I view many laws are blanketed generalizations. While these generalizations are often more helpful than not, in other words: good guidelines, I often go on a case-by-case basis. That is to say I recognize the difference of every situation and treat them accordingly. To apply it specifically, while I will acknowledge that many, perhaps even most, individuals under the legal age have not attained a sufficient level of maturity to make decisions even remotely close to a sexual nature. They probably aren't mature enough to look at the consequences, such as a child, etc. However, there are people above the legal age who probably shouldn't be sexually active because of their maturity and there are also people under the legal age who are mature enough to make those decisions.
I acknowledge the level of maturity may be influenced, even greatly, by the stages of development in relation to age (i.e. people who are above the legal age will have developed mentally to the point where they can clearly make these decisions), yet there are exceptions to this rule. Again, people may not be sufficiently developed even some time after reaching the legal age and others who are not of age may be developed enough to make those decisions.
And why are there exceptions? Perhaps because something in a person's lifetime prevented them from developing enough, such as a traumatic experience or mental illness. Others may have developed ahead of schedule for other reasons, perhaps traumatic experiences that required faster development. Due to the amount of people even inhabiting the USA, the percentage of people who have either developed ahead or behind schedule increases. This explains how many people, even in a small area, could have developed ahead of or behind schedule.
To recap, then. Though I may interact with or even desire certain people who are under age, I would never abuse any of those individuals. I do not simply choose to interact with under-age people because they are underage, rather they just happen to be underage. If anything happened, it would be entirely consensual from all parties involved. Many people I interact with I don't even desire, anyway. I encourage people to be open-minded and to think before labeling me a pedophile, however I will accept people who still feel I am a pedophile, though I probably won't be happy about it.
I don't feel I'm being a pedophile. If I did, I'd admit it. And then seek counseling.
To be honest, I am not a fan of immaturity. I don't like it, especially when stupid games are played or stupid things are said. I enjoy people who are mature, down-to-earth and level-headed, but not to the point where they're overbearing. I am a fan of moderation. I like realistic people who find wonder in life, down-to-earth people who are not afraid to put their head in the sky, and level-headed people who are in touch with their emotions. To put it another way, in many people I find aspects which I enjoy. These people may be 17 or whatever, but if I enjoy things about them, I often don't pay attention to how old they are. I don't pay attention because I feel it isn't very important
Why isn't it important? Because I view many laws are blanketed generalizations. While these generalizations are often more helpful than not, in other words: good guidelines, I often go on a case-by-case basis. That is to say I recognize the difference of every situation and treat them accordingly. To apply it specifically, while I will acknowledge that many, perhaps even most, individuals under the legal age have not attained a sufficient level of maturity to make decisions even remotely close to a sexual nature. They probably aren't mature enough to look at the consequences, such as a child, etc. However, there are people above the legal age who probably shouldn't be sexually active because of their maturity and there are also people under the legal age who are mature enough to make those decisions.
I acknowledge the level of maturity may be influenced, even greatly, by the stages of development in relation to age (i.e. people who are above the legal age will have developed mentally to the point where they can clearly make these decisions), yet there are exceptions to this rule. Again, people may not be sufficiently developed even some time after reaching the legal age and others who are not of age may be developed enough to make those decisions.
And why are there exceptions? Perhaps because something in a person's lifetime prevented them from developing enough, such as a traumatic experience or mental illness. Others may have developed ahead of schedule for other reasons, perhaps traumatic experiences that required faster development. Due to the amount of people even inhabiting the USA, the percentage of people who have either developed ahead or behind schedule increases. This explains how many people, even in a small area, could have developed ahead of or behind schedule.
To recap, then. Though I may interact with or even desire certain people who are under age, I would never abuse any of those individuals. I do not simply choose to interact with under-age people because they are underage, rather they just happen to be underage. If anything happened, it would be entirely consensual from all parties involved. Many people I interact with I don't even desire, anyway. I encourage people to be open-minded and to think before labeling me a pedophile, however I will accept people who still feel I am a pedophile, though I probably won't be happy about it.
I don't feel I'm being a pedophile. If I did, I'd admit it. And then seek counseling.