One of my pet peeves is the current craze of “anti-aging” strategies and products. It seems that everywhere you look, there it is, that phrase which makes no sense whatsoever, and which only adds to the fear we seem to have about the fact that life as we know it will end, and that as we get closer to that end, our bodies do go through changes which we have for some reason identified as “bad”.
Okay, I know a little about marketing. And the term IS catchy, just the sort of thing needed to attract the attention of a culture eager to avoid growing, and especially looking, older. But come on, folks. The only alternative to aging is DEATH. Therefore to be opposed to aging means to be pro-death. The only way not to age is to die.
So let’s instead embrace aging as a badge of honor. Let’s wear our wrinkles with pride, as signs that we’ve lived through some things. We’ve survived experiences that have made us stronger, wiser. We have earned the title of Elder, and we have the right, if not the responsibility, to share what we have learned with a world that so desperately needs it.