The Insidious Disease We All Face
Nope, its not cancer. Not some death-like illness. It's just getting older.
While the disease is present from the time we are born because time is not on any human being's side. Of course, we do not even notice it until, say, 30 or so. That is why it is so insidious as it is right in front of us for many years and we refuse to acknowledge it, or use some sort of band aid to make us feel better.
In fact, the only time we actually get hit on the head with it is when someone confronts us with a photo years ago. Yep. Now we DO see how we changed over that period. Hopefully it is for the better and up to 30 yrs or so, it usually is positive-ah, the prime years of youth. It is like a life in full bloom based on their genetics and environment. If everything is right, you are looking hot, good, sexy, appealing to the eye.
Like I said, you tend to forget that you are getting older when you are in the sunlight of youth because there are few, if any signs, you are aging. That is why youth always seems to feel invincible to Father Time, an attitude that everyone does have in youth, like, "it can't happen to me".
Then, after 35, 40 yrs., depending on your background, it creeps in more and more, seeping into your life with alarming evidence: a few strands of gray hair are spotted and quickly eradicated by yanking them out; while you shave or put on make up, more evidence--thin lines on the face, a few sags, usually around the eyes or mouth. Thin lines you try to hide with cream or make up-you know, fill in the crevices. Ah, young again! It is around this age, one really does not like to see earlier photos, it only substantiates what you have refused to believe since birth: you are getting older. You are no longer young but middle age or worse.
Hey, your body is like a car. Even if you have treated it as a temple as Jesus wants you to, it begins to wear out. Parts simply do not function as they once did. Your abilities diminish. Life is the road, age is the mileage, your body is the car. So, the more miles put on it, the more wear and tear on it. Of course, one cannot stop it to take a break (well, I suppose death is an option) from time, as the watch just keeps on ticking.
Between 35-50, the evidence really piles on, quicker than you would like it or able to handle it. After all, this is a youth culture even if you are in denial about it. You tend to use strategies that do not reveal your age.
Hmm, let's see: hair color. Before the gray, you used it to become a blonde maybe, now, it is to conceal the gray, which may not color well because it has no pigment in the strands. Damn! Now what? Maybe just go bald or say "screw it" bring on the age! Just why is gray hair bad? Why does it mean "old"? Did God make this a mandate? No, it is our society, the media that pushes just youth. Ever see a young person with totally gray hair? It is just weird! We have all been trained to think gray hair and youth is wrong. Brainwashed!
Wringles. Well, those fine lines at age 30 or 35 have now become deeper crevices by 40 or 50, and no mater what you do, short of cosmetic surgery, they ain't going away. In fact, as time passes, they become gorges. All the creams and make up can only help to a point and then you simply toss in the towel and try to age "gracefully".
Many of you have a problem facing aging. Look at Paul McCartney, age 65, in reality he is totally gray, yet he color's his hair and you know it. His face reflects the age, maybe a little younger, but compare when he was 50 versus now. Many movie stars use all sorts of cosemetic this or that to stay young, look at Dolly Parton, age 63, or Cher. Plastic queens!
At best, if you have all the right genetic markers in your genes and treated your body as a temple, maybe you look 10 years younger than you really are without cosmetic this or that or doing much. But sooner or later, Father Time does a number on all of us.
A great movie is The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Brad Pitt is born an old man and grows younger until he dies at age 2. He meets a girl early in the movie, and love is casted, but nothing happens until the girl ages to become a hot ballet dancer and Pitt reaches his prime, For a few years it is bliss, they have a child. Time moves on. Pitt becomes a teeneager, while Cate Blanchett becomes a 60ish woman. Pitt has to leave. In the end, Pitt, now a baby, dies in Cate's (now elderly) hands. The effects of aging in both directions is so awesome and how lover's deal with it.
