With so many disasters lately, both natural and man made, we have seen an equal number of celebrity events to benefit the victims. These have brought out a lot of "Hall of Fame" talents of every genre and age. Which brings me to my thoughts today.
I have noticed for some time that our generation (the Baby Boomers) does not seem to be aging well. That is not to say that we are becoming sedentary, old before our time, or anything like that. No, in fact, we are the youngest acting, feeling, looking grandparents of all recorded history. We are being dragged, kicking and screaming into the next phase of our age market. What is bothersome to me is the way we seem to be unable to let go of the 60's and 70's looks that we adored. There is something a little weird about a pony tail on a man with a bald crown. And it's not just men (although that is so obvious and an easy target that I couldn't let it go). Women of my age are still showing up in dresses designed for their granddaughters, short shorts, and bikinis. Then there are others who are still doing the aging hippy/earth mother look. Some of us seem stuck with the same images of ourselves that we had in our 20's. I love rock, but it's okay to have some diversity in my music repertoire now.
We are buying all kinds of anti-aging products for our faces but our bodies are still getting hit by gravity. I know that many of us exercise faithfully and that's a good thing. I, personally, want the Chevra Kadesha committee (for non-Jews, that is the group that takes care of preparing us for burial) to go "Wow! She looks great!" But, being in shape and staying fit is not the same as being 20 - no matter how much dark fruit juice I drink. I'm not sure a lot of cleavage is all that attractive when it is sun damaged and not all that perky.
My main complaint is that we don't appear to be doing this in a graceful manner. Think of people like Sophia Loren and Gregory Peck - they know (or knew) how to be grown ups of a certain age. I'm not convinced we do. Maybe that's the key. We still believe in our hearts that you can't trust any one over the age of 30 and we are determined not to look like them, either.
I think we may need to revisit that.
