Forever Young - 20/4/09
By Ally Wright & Keren Moran
It seems highly possible that Jennifer Aniston has made a pact with the devil. Why? What other explanation is there for a woman who, at 39 years of age, gets offered US $4million to pose for Playboy magazine? You can imagine how it went down. One minute she’s adding to her literary accomplishments by reading Oscar Wild’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, and then inspiration strikes: “Maybe I could exchange my soul for eternal youth and beauty.”
If it were really possible to have eternal youth and beauty, I wouldn't put it past Jennifer Aniston, or any celebrity, or the whole of Australia to give up their soul to be hot forever. It's no secret – our culture worships youth. Those attempting to celebrate the aging process can only do so if they look twenty years younger than they actually are. If a married couple over the age of 40 so much as kiss on screen, the response from the average teenager might be a horrified, "Gross, old people!"
Why is it that we are so obsessed with youth? At least partly, it's because as a society we are afraid of getting old. We are afraid because the older we get, the closer we are to death. And if you believe that death is the end, or if you simply don't know what to expect, there is much to be fearful of when confronted with your own mortality. Without the assurance of eternal life in Christ, it seems reasonable that you would start injecting Botox and practicing yoga as soon as you felt your youth start to slip through your slightly wrinkled hands.
The strange thing is that even as Christians who know that death is actually the beginning of eternal life, (and perfect resurrected bodies, and glorifying God, and a million other good things in heaven), we succumb to the seduction of looking young and beautiful. We can underestimate the influence that our culture has on the way we think and act, and on the things we value.
It seems that in our culture, aging is ridiculed by the young, exploited by the marketers, and finally institutionalised, as those who are oldest in our society are often the most overlooked. Universities are one of the easiest places to inadvertently worship youth, as they have, in general, a population that is perpetually young and beautiful. Everyone is at their physical peak. So we need to check our attitude towards both aging and death against that of the Bible.
While it's very difficult to draw a line that says a Goldclass gym membership is fine but regular anti-aging sessions at the Day Spa are too much, it might be helpful to see beauty and youth as potential idols. Are you doing more to beautify yourself or prolong your youth than you are getting to know God more and serving him?
And let's not forget where youth and beauty got Dorian Gray – it was beauty and youth that ruined him. His beauty had been but a mask to him, his youth but a mockery.
Ally and Keren were editors of The Page last year. Ally now spends her time looking after her beautiful daughter Rose, and Keren is getting ready to spend a year in England as a nanny.
The Page welcomes all contributions! If there is something on your mind, write an article of about 600-800 words and send it to promotions@ecuwollongong.org for consideration.
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