All over this world our thoughts are pulled towards protecting ourselves - protecting our money, our proerty, our identity. But the one part of this obsessive culture that worries me to the ends of time and back is the overpowering drive we all seem to have to protect our youth.
I'm still young - I've got the best years still to go, apparently, and I'd like to keep it that way, but I'm growing into a world where I should already be preserving every feature that resembles me now, a world where in ten years time it'll all be too late, the wrinkles will be setting in, and I'll thank myself for preventing it now. The fact is, we're scared of getting old. My parents don't want to be like their parents. They're too used to being the authority - the people with ALL the responsibility. They're scared of what we will do.
Stay safe, and keep yourself looking younger than you did at thirty - that seems to be the generally beleieved way of preventing the onset of OLD AGE... I have to say, I seem to see it all in a rather different light to the media - but maybe that's because I'm not old enough to be scared to think about it, or maybe it's just because I'm too paranoid. But basically, I just wonder what the point in living to one hundred and fifty, and looking really good is, if you spend 20 years slowly going insane, and feeling terrified of what's round every corner, followed by five years in the most excruciating pain you can imagine, or worse. And it's only as bad for the family - the four or five generations watching a suffering relative break away from their ever tightening grasp (but still looking vibrant and youthful).
So let go! Grey hair is a sign if sanity, not age! Ditch the anti-wrinkle cream and worry about WHAT MATTERS - what you'll be able to look back on when you're 97 and laugh at, knowing you didn't waste all those years pointlessly worrying about growing old, and appreciating those less stressful years that have kept your mind ticking, kept you sharp, and let you continue to enjoy everything that brings you REAL JOY and SECURITY. Why worry?! It only casts shadows on the good times. What's five years of beauty worth over five years of living life to the full? But I guess it's your choice.