I recently saw a TV ad that made me stand up in my chair and say to the screen, “No! Just no!” I wanted to kick furniture, but I was afraid of breaking my toe, so I refrained. The ad was for a book titled, Forever Young–that overworked conspiracy targeting woman and designed to make us believe that anyone ten years past puberty should set to work immediately making repairs to our lined faces, our gray hair, and our sagging bodies. 

We are exhorted to buy all kinds of makeup and skincare products that will restore the bloom of youth, and to spend every waking moment worrying about eating calories that will add to our waistlines. We are bombarded with ads for exercise equipment that shape us up on treadmills and such that will take us away from a meaningful life of enjoying family and friends, working, playing, attending church, and being productive members of our communities. 

Whatever happened to reverence for age? Where did respect for the elderly go? Who decided that wisdom and a life well-spent are not as important as the fresh-face and brashness of youth? And who on earth decided that women are the ones who should remain forever young, while men get to enjoy losing their hair and sitting in a comfortable chair with their arms resting on a paunchy belly? 

When my hair started going gray, I let it. When lines started appearing on my face, I made more by smiling a lot. When the beauty experts at the cosmetics’ counter recommended a mind-boggling number of skin care products with an astronomical price tag, I went to the drugstore and bought baby face cleaner and a baby moisturizer, dirt cheap by comparison. 

My parents taught me to respect and honor the wisdom and the lifetime achievements of the beautiful, wizened women who had blazed a trail for me. They taught me the difference between a shallow woman with an attractive façade and a woman of character and substance, who has made a great contribution to society.

Don’t try to sell me anything that promises eternal youth. I plan to live the kind of giving, loving, purpose-driven, Godly, faith-filled life will give me eternal life.

God is good.

Peggy Webb