Being An Adult

Years ago when my own dear Sons were going through the Terrific Teenage Years I always reminded them that once they achieved the age of 21 years that their life would improve. By that time the plates in their heads would be fused together and they would be able to appreciate the Adult point of view. Recent research by the “Flower Child” on the World Wide Web appears to bear the skull development concepts that I learned many years ago.

Two sets of bones

Your skull is made up of two sets of bones - the bones of your face and the bones of your cranium, which make up your forehead and the back of your head.

Cranium
Your cranium is the large bony case that surrounds your delicate brain, protecting it from bumps and knocks. It is made up of eight large flat bones, joined together by fixed joints known as sutures. Your frontal bone forms your forehead, and the tops of your eye sockets. Most of the top and sides of your head are formed by two parietal bones. And the back of your skull is formed by your occipital bone which has an opening in it where your spinal cord connects to your brain.

Facial bones
The fourteen bones at the front of your skull hold your eyes in place and form your facial features. Your mandible, or jawbone, is the largest, strongest bone in your face. It holds your lower teeth in place and you move it to chew your food.
Apart from you mandible and your vomer, all your facial bones are arranged in pairs. That's why your face is symmetrical. For example, your two zygomatic bones form your cheekbones and the outside of your eye sockets on either side of your face.

From flexible to fixed joints
A human skull is almost full sized at birth. However the eight bones that make up the cranium are not yet fused together. This means that the skull can flex and deform during birth, making it easier to deliver a baby through the narrow birth canal. These individual plates of bone fuse together after about 24 months to form the adult skull.The only bone in your skull that forms freely movable joints is your mandible, or jawbone.

Even after visible gaps between the neurocranial bones have been replaced by bone, the fibrous sutures permit additional growth to occur. In normal development, bones that meet at each cranial suture fuse together at different rates that allow for normal expansion of the brain and soft tissues during infancy and childhood. By early adulthood the fusion of all craniofacial sutures are completed.

By Now I am confident that you are wondering why I share all this background information!!! It appears that here in Middle Georgia we have a lack of "Adult Thinking" on the part of various governmental agencies. Most critical is this alledged and apparant lack of thinking on the part of various elected governmental bodies.

Our Duly Elected School Board in Bibb County is laboring on the schedule for the 2006-2007 School Year.

Our City of Macon City Council is laboring on a scheme to raise money for the struggling City by possibly installing "Red Light Cameras."

Our Bibb County Commissioners are having difficulty managing the Bibb Board of Assessors.

May the "Flower Child" simply suggest that maybe it is time for all to act and function as Adults. Based on my research it would seem that everyone has a fully developed skull. The plates are usually fused by the age of twenty-one. I know in the case of my own dear Sons that they now appear to have their heads in the correct place. They are indeed thinking like Adults.

I also know that it is difficult to please everyone, but We The People elected these various Councils, Boards and Commissions to do the hard work to make our School System, our City and our County better. It really is very simple. Put your personal agenda/s away and function for the betterment of peoplekind.

After all, as my fellow peer who comments on local television editorials quite often: "Servant Leadership" appears to be lacking here in Middle Georgia.

We The People certainly deserve much more than what we currently receive. Admittedly, Leadership and Voting on Laws, Procedures, and Policies can be difficult; however the common good is what we all seek and that is why We The People Elected You!!!! Go Now and Do the Will of the People that will generate the best outcome for All. Sometimes your votes will be unpopular.

You may not agree with my views and opinions; but Please be aware that I post to inform and also stimulate thinking. Thank You.