(anti)aging

i think one of the most pervasive and most obvious obsession that currently shapes our country (and other developed cultures as well) is youthfulness. in the way we look and act, we are completely taken with appearing younger than they actually are, and it's not limited to those over 50 or 60. we see commercials, advertisements, TV shows and articles about collagen boosters, microdermabrasion, glycolic peels, chemical resurfacing, and other words that should be confined to a course in organic chemistry. Botox appeals to women and men in their 30s. makeup products aimed at 20-30 year old women contain chemicals supposed to "minimize fine lines and crows-feet" later on in life. nearly every brand of skin care contains an anti-aging line. Ivillage notes that "90 million Americans have used a product to reduce the visible signs of aging."

americans are petrified of old age. why wouldn't we be? it's our own fault, you know. we're the ones who dump our parents and grandparents in bland, institutional old folks' homes and marginalize their entire generation into an irrelevant burden. in most Asian countries, growing old equals more respect, not less. in south american countries, older family members traditionally live with the younger ones until they die, with homes growing larger and larger to accomodate more people. if we had treated our elderly better than we do, maybe we wouldn't be so paranoid of getting there ourselves.

but, i digress. it's a true statement that old folks have never been thought of as especially outwardly beautiful. since the beginning of time, physical beauty was almost synonymous with youth. it's also true that the standard of beauty has become sky-high in our society, but i see that as a completely different issue. it's not even that there's some different standard of beauty...there are cultural differences, of course, but there has always been physical beauty and ugliness. no one, not in japan or ecuador either, would probably say that people grow more outwardly beautiful as they grow old. the difference between them, then, and us, now, is that we currently attribute a disproportionate amount of value to the same kind of beauty we've always desired. it's a universal fact that outward beauty fades as time takes its toll, and no one denies that. but those in other cultures don't care nearly as much about it, and i think people in other times haven't cared nearly as much about it, either.

there's another undercurrent in the anti-aging hype that i want to address. it's the survivalist instinct, the fact that all civilizations now and before are aimed at preserving life as long as possible. obviously, no one is really under the impression that our lives can be extended indefinitely by using skin products and special diets and exercise. everyone knows that death is one of the two certain things in life. so why do so many of us pursue the chimaera of youth, knowing deep down it will always evade them? maybe the answer at the heart this issue of longing for eternal youth is found in Scripture. we weren't ever meant to die.

God originally created people to live forever, not just in a spiritual heaven, but physically, on this earth. it should come as no large shock, then, that we all long to do just that. that isn't a wrong desire; it's God-given! it's just that in some western cultures, that longing is coupled with a system of superficial valuation, which makes life miserable for the middle-aged (who spend gobs of money trying to outsmart the appearance of old age) and the old-aged (who are now devalued because they can't attain the standard of beauty) alike.

any thoughts, questions or rebuttals are welcome. thanks for reading!