In our youth obsessed world, wrinkles are regarded as an unfortunate affliction normally found in people over 50. They are to be feared, hidden if possible and are often the butt of “oldies” jokes.
How could we get it so wrong?
Surely one of the main reasons for being on this earth is to experience the highs and lows of life. These experiences leave their marks on our minds and on our bodies. They help form our character and attitudes and they leave lines on our faces. A mature, lined face shows that we have accepted challenges, enjoyed victories and good times, found the strength to survive defeats and try again. They are the outward signs of having lived our lives.
Young faces and bodies are often beautiful. They are unlined, untested and can be like a blank canvas before life starts to paint on their surfaces. Youthful, unlined faces are to be enjoyed, but not worshipped as something we should all strive for when clearly the human face changes with age.
To focus on youth and beauty and denigrate older faces is to make the mistake of only considering the outer, physical appearance. The cliché “beauty is only skin deep” is still relevant. Of course realising this requires a little maturity on the part of the journalists, bloggers and Twitter enthusiasts who produce so much of this rubbish.
It is the journey from unblemished and untested youth to wrinkled maturity that defines who we really are. People who have handled the journey well may have lost much of their youthful beauty but they still can be very beautiful people in their sixties and seventies. The current crop of people over 60 has probably seen more change during their lives than any other generation that has ever walked this earth. Surely this experience is worth a few wrinkles.
Was Mandella more beautiful at 20 or 70?
Mandella at 20
Mandella in his 70s