Rite of Passage

Rite of Passage:

It seems that I've been away from the Hall for too long. I return, partly because I have a question to pose to the membes of the Hall.

In the recent past, I have had many opportunities to think about rites of passage. Most recently, I went through a significant one myself, having earned an M.S. degree in my chosen field of study. However, I have also seen family friends celebrate the commencement of high-school education, and one of the friends of the Hall has received an M.D. (I haven't heard of many Marines who received that honor after their service...)

All these events are rites of passage. They mark the achievement of a goal. They mark the honoree as having left one class and entered another.

The question that comes to mind is this: is there a specific rite of passage that turns a boy into a man? Is there an event that we can say qualifies a young man as having risen to full (adult) manhood?

During my pondering of this question, I remembered a comment from Grim that I originally took as a joke:

With a possible exception for certain foreign countries, there is no such thing as a gun-free man.

I would be happy to accept this as the mark of manhood--but if you feel that something else should be used, feel free to comment on it.