On Anti-Aging

War Against Aging;
Inhumane, exploitative, destructive….
Idolising youth, corrupting beauty,
appreciating a blank slate, depreciating a life lived…
The creation of addiction and destruction of connection,
a vain pursuit of illusion over the fruitful embrace of reality.

Art, as it ages and decays, becomes priceless and treasured.
Fine wine and liquor are deliberately aged to be savoured.
Ancient ruins crumbling to dust instill reverential awe and wonder.
Flora and fauna mark cycles of seasons by changing colors, lines, and spots,
and, in so doing, are prized and cherished.

Your colors, lines, wrinkles, and spots
document time’s passage…
but, these very markings
somehow make you something other than beautiful,
someone to be effaced, defaced, de-faced.

Resurface, redefine, contour, boost and plump,
defy and counter any signs of aging;
erase the life you lived,
the life that shapes your face.

Use an anti-aging product!  Or two!  Or three!
Pine for your past, escape your present, forsake your future.
Start a ritualistic regimen of war against nature and yourself.
Worship at the altars of hired science and targeted marketing.
Spend thousands of dollars to erase decades of living,
until you are blank, helpless, as lost as a newborn.

What happened to all that living?

What's wrong with meeting, knowing and loving Yourself, as is,
with a warm embrace?

“Nice to know You.”  

Live in a way that tells Your story, beautifully, on Your face.