Everyone has them. Everyone hates them.
Wrinkles mean we’re aging or spending too much time in the sun. Maybe it’s fake news. Wrinkles are really our purple hearts – rewards for life well lived (or fought). If you have wrinkles, like most afterfifty-ers, you should be proud.
This woman from Nepal looks proud of her wrinkles and age. Of course, they respect elders in the Himalayas. Here in western civilization we insist on looking young. As if the “young” know so much.
Consider this. There are books, blogs, videos, and websites telling us how to look “young.” There are hair dyes, plastic surgery, makeup, and health tips to take off the years. Anti-aging products and services are a global industry worth $262 billion. That’s over 100 times more than it cost to build the Trump Hotel in Washington D.C. – and a tad more than it costs to stay there.
Some of the top selling wrinkle creams have obvious names that say it all: Simply Ageless, Revitalift, Triple Age Repair.
There are products like Lifecell at $180 per tube with a 120-day money back guarantee and Wrinkle Rewind for a paltry $70 and a mere 30-day money back guarantee.
Guarantee for what?
You can always indulge in plastic surgery or “nonsurgical surgery (laser).” The old-fashioned facelift, rhytidectomy, costs from $6,000 to $15,000. It’s not covered by insurance but financing is available. There’s a menu of choices: mini or standard; neck and jawline; chin, eyes, brows . . .
Not to be outdone, there are botox and other injectable fillers direct from “facial rejuvenation specialists.” If things get really bad, you can learn Photoshop to permanently “erase” your paper or on-screen wrinkles.
What about the shocking alternative? Do nothing. Be comfortable in your skin!
Maggie Smith, and Judi Dench, both 83, are practically known for their wrinkles. Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver, both 68, refuse plastic surgery. Countries like India, Greece and Korea traditionally respect their elderly. Japan has the longest life expectancy in the world and celebrates an annual public holiday, “Respect for the Aged Day.”
What’s with us? If our grand old President, 71, with his weird orange hair, is an example of the youth culture, why bother? Do you really want to look like him?
Maybe we should be as proud of our age as the kid who became legal at 21 or the boy who turned 8?
Celebrate the years . . . and the wrinkles. Think about it – what’s so great about being young? You’re constantly searching for a job, mate, home, or letters after your name. Loyal friends are a vanishing breed. There’s never enough money – life can be stressful, demanding, and often sexist.
Do you miss that?
Young people might have better bodies but we have more mechanical body parts. Maybe we should be called the high-techies?
Wrinkles and years bring peace. Research shows that as people get older they become happier, more content, and gain a positive outlook on the world.
Even with our narcissist septuagenarian-in-chief.
So throw away the creams, plastic surgery, and makeovers. Celebrate.
You earned it.
