“I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June. . . . If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that-for that-I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!”
–Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

I’m sick of it I tell you! I’m just sick to death with the whole thing!!
The big buck business of making old folks look younger is getting out of hand. Color our hair, injects Botox into a wrinkled place, nip, tuck, and everyone will marvel at your preservation skills. Oh, please!
It just goes on and on. For instance a while back I saw on an Oprah show a demonstration for a product one could rub on their lips and the lips would look shiny, full and pouty. For a mere $40 or so and a short time with a fat lip, the participants in the experiment thought they would certainly use the stuff. It would have to be a quickie date over with before your lips went back to their normal size.

Why can’t we be left alone to age like a fine wine and not feel pressure to look younger?
Maybe other cultures like the Okinawa’s have the right idea. They revere their elders, making sure they are included in all community activities. Wrinkled and bent there is pride in knowing an older person with wisdom and life experiences.
Many of us feel the anti-aging boom is similar to the old fashioned snake oil business. We need to face the reality of aging and know full well we will die at some point.
The point is to make sure we age in a healthy and vibrant way- naturally. This applies to those on the younger side of things as well as those us who feel we are on the slippery slope of aging.
We might not look as smooth as a baby’s bottom but we might feel better about ourselves and feel better physically by realizing aging is a part of life. We may not be looking forward to it but we need to keep it in perspective. Written by Brenda Mallory for the ‘Let Life In’ Blog website. www.LetLifeIn.com