Back in the day..Cheeks like a chipmunk, sparklers under the hills hoist and fairy bread on the table.
Note the essential Eric and Ariel cake figurines, which I loved.
Having said that, I can definitely understand why some people greet every approaching birthday with intense panic (and trust me, some people do, ask most of my friends). After all, everything in our culture is geared towards youth.
We are taught that to age is to become obsolete, disposable, useless. It equates to loss of physical 'prettiness' (which seems to be right up the top of the list of "things to fear losing" in Western consumer-focused cultures), loss of the ability to 'contribute' to society in economic terms, and thus loss of 'value'. You don't have to look very far for this message, because it's only subtly hidden in almost every ad, every show, every moisturiser product campaign.
In my experience the opposite has always proved true. The older people that I am lucky enough to have in my life are far, far from being in any way obsolete or valueless. I won't try and put in words how much they mean to me, because I couldn't if I tried, but just trust that they are truly beautiful and loving in ways that can't be marketed.
In fact, the more I think about it, everything I have ever learnt has come either from someone else's hard-won insight as a result of living, or from my own. And living entails ageing. It is an inescapable reality that our bodies are constantly getting older, and like any truth, it is better to recognise and accept it rather than make futile attempts at resisting it (collagen suppliers and users take note.)
I think in order to remember this, it helps to change the predominantly fearful perspective on ageing into one of gratitude. That is, to acknowledge that many people would give anything to have their deceased friend or child reach this age. Or even just to be 24 again.
*(this may or may not have something to do with the fact that I have an inexplicable love for the number 42 and am stoked that my age will soon be an anagram of that number: Excellent.)
3 comments:
Words I needed to hear today as I've been reading about the deteriorating brain that shrinks decade after decade (apparently its all downhill for the brain - granted very slowly - after age 20!) Thanks for your wisdom Kiarz :) loved what you said about "in ways that cannot be marketed", absolutely brilliant line. Thanks for shedding light on moving onwards and upwards through life's journey. Love you heaps xx
ps. I remember the chipmunk cheeks of our childhood!
Thanks Loz, I'm glad you got something out of it. I was having a cynical moment, thinking about how much it annoys me when people freak out about getting older but then i thought..it actually makes sense because there's so much pressure to stay young and pretty. So I was trying to flip that kind of thinking on its head.
love you heaps, thanks for the comment xx
ps I'm realising that the best thing about blogging is getting to read the musings of you and Mez! it's a nice consolation for the fact that we don't get to see each other often enough :)
Post a Comment