Getting old is a privilege. Many of us complain about our aging process and lament that our days of youth are over without realizing that not everyone gets an opportunity to get old. Nothing in this universe is permanent, definitely, not humans, we all have an expiry date. Our life is divided into stages, starting from being born to our death, getting old is an important milestone in this process. We don't have to do anything special to get old, the same way as we don't have to do anything special to be born or to become a toddler or to become a teenager. These things happen as time passes after our birth. Among all this, getting old is a special phase, it shows we survived long enough to see our old age and hopefully, in that process gathered some valuable experience that we can share with our younger generation. That is why I say that getting old is a privilege.
Like any other phase of life, being old comes with its own pros and cons. If we are not careful, our health can be an issue in old age, we may find it hard to remain physically active if we remain careless about our health. We need to adjust our lifestyle as per certain conditions and health issues we pick up while getting older. But these are minor discomforts compared to the value we can add to our society while getting older. At older age our life experiences and wisdom are based on our own personal experiences rather than some hearsay, we are supposed to be more mature and wise. Also, we are supposed to understand the value of love and happiness more and behave accordingly. Unfortunately, not everyone behaves accordingly, there are many old people who behave like jerks, and they don't seem to have learned anything as they grow older. But if we learn from our experiences, and try to make this world a better place, this world will be a lot nicer place than what it already is.
Even though getting old is a privilege, people resist showing that they are getting old. Removing skin wrinkles, or hiding them, hair transplants, hair coloring to hide the grayness of hair due to aging, plastic surgeries to look younger, and use of other methods to hide age are no longer limited to film stars, most common people also use these techniques. I am not against the use of these things or using anything to enhance one's looks. However, people seem to equate looking old with looking ugly, I don't know why, but this seems to be the case. I don't see any other reason to hide our age other than the stigma associated with looking old. Cosmetics were supposed to help us to look better, enhance our looks of that age, and not to hide our real faces. Previously film stars used to hide their age to protect their screen image. Many film stars wanted their fans only to remember their young versions, somehow they thought their older versions would not get the love and adulation their younger version received. This is not true, there are many examples where film stars are as popular in their old age with their old looks as they were in their young age. Still, people are scared to show their age. This may sound like I am against cosmetics or people using makeup. However, this is not the case, I agree that people need to feel comfortable with their appearance, but stereotyping old age as an ugly look is not the way to make anyone comfortable with their appearance it is the opposite of it. If you are privileged, don't hide that privilege, let people know about it and benefit from it. There is no shame in displaying your age, remember, not everyone gets an opportunity to get old, if you get that opportunity, let people know about it. Age is just a number, not something to be ashamed of.
Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic.
© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com
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