Why is it such a big problem these days?Every 50 year old wants to look younger, talk younger, think younger. Why?? Strange times these, when Old is a cuss-word, but Sh** and F**k are acceptable in drawing rooms!
I know 50 year old grandmas who look 35. I have students who have 15 and 20 year old children and look like their siblings. They don’t do anything to look particularly young- they just look it. And I’m proud of them ( goes without saying that I’m astonished, too). But does that mean their insides are as young?
We have been through so much, ‘seen’ life, lost loved ones, been betrayed/deceived and so much more -so how can we have that same innocence or foolhardiness of youth? More importantly, why would we want it now?? Hopefully we have learnt our lessons, become maturer and are better able to face problems.
Why should I give up all that hard-earned and learned wisdom just to sound ‘young’? A young-ness that any genuinely young person can see through immediately for what it is, a cover-up. The truly youthful person has an unerring eye for the wrinkles on the neck and the carefully dyed hair trying to pass off as naturally young.
Young at heart? Not me. My heart has too many marks and holes for me to pretend that I have just started on my life’s journey. Some dear friends admonish me every time I talk of old age. It’s not as if I obsess about being old, growing older. But what is true is true, isn’t it ? Growing older doesn’t mean I’m not interested in life. It just means a better ‘improved’ version of Me. ( Imagine still singing the songs of the teens, wearing clothes one wore 30 years ago! Or even worse, talking in teenage style, shudderr!)
I’m in my late 50s, and every once in a while, I find a new muscle aching or suddenly find it difficult to climb up a stool. That’s my body telling me I am no longer young. So okay. Why panic? Last I checked, Benjamin Button was just a piece of fiction.
