THE RITE OF PASSAGE
The setting is a residential living room. A mother and her daughter enter. The girl is carrying a small cardboard box. Her manner is defensive. She has been caught going through an old cabinet beloning to her mother which contains a number of personal items. The object of the girl's search was a necklace which she observed her mother trying on unawares. She attempts to convince her mother that curiosity was the reason behind the unintentional sighting and subsequent prying. That she simply wanted to view herself wearing the necklace, to see if it made her look like an elegant lady.
While disappointed at her daughter's secretive behavior, the mother admits to being equally curious about the necklace when she was a teenager. She directs her daughter to take a snapshot from the small box. It's a picture of a young girl wearing the necklace. The person in the photo is identified as being the girl's grandmother. It is explained that the necklace has been in the family for several generations.
Given these circumstances the girl concludes that the necklace must be of great value. Her mother explains that the stones and glittering linkages are just gaudy imitations. The girl asks if the necklace has some particular sentimental value, and is told none out of the ordinary. But its longevity and importance, her mother relates, has to do with quite another reason.
The girl is asked if she is familiar with the term "rite of passage". When her response is negative her mother describes it as an act that changes one's role in life, a growth process of sorts. To better define this point the mother uses a series of simple demonstrations which depict the state of passing from a self-centered mentality to that of sharing, of thinking outside of self for the benefit of others.
So saying, the mother takes the necklace from the cardboard box and fits it around her daughter's neck. Then the daughter goes to her room and brings back a camera. In keeping with the long-standing tradition, the mother takes the daughter's picture, which is to be preserved for posterity. Now, she states, the necklace is the girl's to keep for her own.
As the daughter returns the necklace to the box, her mother wishes her all the joy she experienced wearing it through the years. But she also admonishes the girl not to forget what has taken place between them and to remember that one day it will be her turn to observe the Rite of Passage.