In my opinion, in order to mature you must lose your innocence. I say this because in the process of growing up you learn things about life and do things that lead up to losing your innocence. In the book “A Separate Piece” by John Knowles there are three good reasons that support this. The first example is when Gene has to deal with his jealousy of Phineas and his athletic ability. When finally Gene …showed first 75 words of 511 total…

…showed last 75 words of 511 total…better person then they were before. But not all is lost, as Jewel Kilcher said, “Being part of the natural world reminds me that innocence isn't ever lost completely; we just need to maintain our goodness to regain it.” So I think that we do lose our innocence in the process of maturing but that does not make you a bad person and you can work to restore a level of goodness if you try.