Mirror post from xanga: Can we all just act our age?

I like what I wrote back in February, so I thought I should place it here too:
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Now I am the last person who 'acts his age' at all times, but seriously; we are all growing up; maturing; finding ourselves in situations and with people we've never met before; but for some reason, many of us just can't act our age in tough situations.

A prime example of how to do it right came up last saturday as can be read here. Our actions in that situation could have been much, much different, but we decided to take appropriate action and not cause a scene.

That's on a slightly larger scale than what I'm talking about though.

Why is it that we cannot seem to just be able to give the respect and love that is most definitely deserved to our friends? If something brings joy to your life, tell me; if you desire or like something, tell me; if something brings sadness or distress in your life, tell me; if something makes you uncomfortable or concerned, tell me.

If that something is me, DEFINITELY tell me. (this is not in reference to anything particular going on right now, just something I've thought about before)

However big or small it is, if it's important to you, it's important to me, it's important to your friends.

Why is it that the appropriate action seems more often than not, to shy away and avoid all the things that just a few words could resolve? I understand this can be a difficult task to accomplish, but we cannot just avoid everything that is difficult in our lives. Besides, the potential rewards are just huge - relationships get stronger, people start to understand one another better, and not to mention, you tend to feel better not bottling everything up inside.
I like to believe that everyone has the time to care. Priorities may dictate the amount of face-time someone has to devote to you, but it doesn't mean they don't care. Don't ever believe you're alone, you are not alone.

Sure, bring it all out on the table and it could go the other way, but if we could all just act our age, maybe it wouldn't have to.

Let's give each other the respect we deserve.

Let's share in our joys and pains and try to cultivate relationships that will provide us with something greater...