When I was writing this in late 2011, one of my brothers said he wished he could go back and be 13 years old forever. I said I wished I could be 20. This made me wonder whether each of us has an ideal age that we would like to be again or have stayed at forever, whatever age we actually now are.
Most of us have heard someone say, 'If only I was 10 years younger'. Today it seems that popular culture has encouraged and already accepted people behaving as if they are, at least, 10 years younger.
I actually wonder whether anyone today will admit to being old. I believe growing old gracefully is, at least in North America, a thing of the past.
Everywhere in the media we see the culture of Forever Young being directly or indirectly portrayed as where we all should want to be. This is especially true when we see airbrushed magazine covers showing models, almost all under 30. We cannot help but observe this young look in any advertisements. Also there is also an absence of almost anyone on the movie premiere or awards ceremony 'red carpet' who does not seem ageless.
Articles talk about women feeling old at 27, but men not feeling the same way until they are around 54 years old. Even when 40 is the new 30, 50 is the new 40 etc., eventually somebody has to accept that they have finally reached old age...then again, maybe not, anymore these days.
Many, women especially, but also some men are having Botulism injected into their faces to keep aging signs at bay. Meanwhile, almost all age groups wear the same blue jeans, and listen to the same music, while speaking the current slang. Generally, I would say, most people are actively trying to demonstrate youth in their attire, words and actions.
As Marcel Danesi has written in his book, Forever Young - The Teen-Aging of Modern Culture, the parents are talking the talk of the young, wearing the clothes of much younger people, adopting the music, and perhaps also the behaviour and attitudes, of those much younger than their chronological age. He observes a 70+ grandmother grooving (sic) beside her grandson at a Grateful Dead concert and marvels at the uniformity of their outfits, and by extension, outlooks.
When I met a several of my cousins recently, I mentioned that any efforts by CARP (the Canadian Association of Retired People) to enlist people of 50 or over into their ranks as members was not going to happen. Most of them agreed with me that the Boomers would never willingly concede that they were already there.
I am convinced that this culture of being Forever Young is, a fait accompli. I believe that because of this desire to be forever young, the Zoomers label had to be created.
Meanwhile, although many women might be flattered to be considered to look like sisters to their daughters, the reality of a parent as a friend or sister, is more likely to leave children without a parent.
Trying to dress and act your child's age and be their friend and peer, or worse still, for some reason trying to compete with them, could lead to a failure of discipline and direction as a parent. It is even more likely to eventually expose you to ridicule and make you seem pathetic to others. This is a struggle to be someone else's age, rather than your own.
When aging, older adults and the parents of the adult 'children' are doing everything they can to stay Forever Young, they are also not accepting the beauty and strengths that each age brings with it in its natural course.
While there is probably nothing wrong with being alert and aware of what is going on around you; slavishly devotion to youth's every utterance however, makes some of us wonder where there is someone reasonable to tell the 'Fashion Victims' and other devotees of the youth cult, to Grow Up and act their age.
The alternative is denying yourself Happiness because you are never living in the present and resentful and angry because you can never go back to some 'ideal perfect age'. If you think about it for a short while, you actually wouldn't want to, but there is no reasoning with bitterness and resentment.
Meanwhile, we might wonder whether growing old gracefully has gone forever. Perhaps young, older and oldest have already committed themselves to the ultimately futile struggle to stay Forever Young, ignoring all evidence to the contrary. If so, they are of course, fighting a losing battle and will ultimately fail.
Taken to the ultimate end I suppose, we might witness many middle age crazy stuff from people who have retired and see them still Zooming away when old age takes the life out of them. We may hear that they were still kicking and screaming that were too young to die until the end. Doesn't sound 'cool' to me, because it won't be.
See also: FOREVER YOUNG 2 - CELEBRATING YOUR SUCCESS (2012 & 2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment