Forever 21: Dealing with Americas Fear of Aging and Death - Research Paper Example

Forever 21: Dealing with America’s Fear of Aging and Death Abstract It is an undeniable reality that there is much stigma and judgment about issues of aging and death in the American culture and society where no one apparently wants to cross 21 and head towards the old age. The point is that what thinking approach actually causes people to fear old age and death due to which they start feeling obsessed about trying various measures which are advertised presently for maintaining youth and vigor. This paper is an effort to explore various causes which underlie the growing fear of aging and death among the American people in addition to discussing what efforts they should make to perceive the issue of aging as a definite part of life’s journey which should not be feared but welcomed. Unfortunately, difference between attitudes towards youth and age is highly striking in America (Brain, 1991). Mostly, Americans do not seem to be able to wrap their heads around getting older because the age in which they are living can be described as an age in which literally everyone has a weird fascination with youth. This is why everyone in the present age in America dreads aging as it is thought to be some strange disease which has the potential to incapacitate people in such a way that it could leave them isolated, jobless, and depressed. What worsens the situation is the fact that there are so many strange misconceptions associated with aging by people that it is thought of as a kind of life process which should be avoided, denied, and detested while it really should be other way round because nothing really can turn out to be so impossibly grave and dark if a rational approach is taken to assess aging and the issue of mortality associated with it. American people obsess so much about staying young and yearn to never cross 21 because their take on the whole process of aging turns out to be very juvenile as they think that a healthy body and mind cannot be associated with aging. Aging incapacitates a person in many ways making him/her weak, fragile, ugly, poor, and friendless as though all the blood and life has been sucked out of him/her. The problem with the American culture is that it is the culture of youth and wisdom comes from friends than from communicating with elders which fuels the risk of loneliness associated with aging (Gauron, 2008). One of the simplest solutions of all times for bringing down the level of fear people associate with growing old is simply accepting both aging and death and welcoming them with an open heart and mind. If youth is spent in the right way taking care of body and mind and abstaining from falling for a hedonistic life style involving excessive partying, drugs, and irresponsible sexual activities, then even old age can be spent in a very peaceful manner because all the energy would still be intact and vibrant as it would not have been spent on energy-sucking activities done in youth. According to a 2001 Duke University survey, only 31% of old people surveyed claimed to be treated with ignorance due to their age group which shows that the fear of aging is actually not as valid as shown by the American media (Aging in America, 2011). Saying that American culture is one in which there is ferocious chase for ageless beauty and perfection with beauty, smartness, and youth highly valued and yearned by the public would not untrue as far as the present times are concerned because no matter what age people are now, they appear to more concerned about achieving the title of ageless beauty than anything. Ageism fear prompts them to take an active part in the chase for ageless perfection and often going to extreme ends to avoid wrinkles and other sings of aging. But such efforts rarely work as it is rightly said that “the balms, corsets, toupees, and dyes only draw attention to wrinkled skin, sagging bellies, bald pates and gray hairs” (Brain, 1991). In the case of women, the stigma associated with aging gets even bigger and uglier because if grey hair could be considered graceful in men, many bad judgments can be made about women’s grey hair. Unfortunately according to most of the American people, aging is a picture of dreary misery and loneliness which underlines the true reality that, “we have a culture that transmits the message that aging is to be dreaded, feared, and denied” (Paul, 2011). Instead of feeling a great loss and thinking that one’s heart must have dropped a little further down with every passing birthday, one should try not to dread aging but looking forward to the later phase of life as a phase which could allow one to do all the things one never had enough time for earlier on in life. Also, aging should not be thought of as an inescapable land of ceaseless misery and hopelessness because people can still be as vibrant and lively in old age as in younger years only if they want to. A person can destroy him/herself with negative ideas just as effectively as with a bomb which is why cynical approach associated with aging should be made the talk of the past (Robbins, cited in Paul, 2011). In accordance with the unprecedented desire to stay young in American culture, “an entire industry now exists to perpetuate the anti-aging trend” (Belli, 2004). It is really a deplorable reality that in contrast to other cultures where grey hair and wrinkles are seen as signs of wisdom, experience, maturity, and respect, there is a totally different story in the American culture where associating extremely cynical thoughts with aging is thought to be fashionable. People in the American society have presently become so obsessed about associating beauty with youth alone that “an increasing number of people today are willing to spend a great deal of money and undergo a considerable degree of pain in order to have facelifts, that they might look younger” (Robbins, 2006, p. 14). But the reality is that aging cannot be avoided yet efforts should be made to live healthier by thinking healthier. If aging is dreaded on grounds of depression and social exclusion, then there is certainly no hope for such people because negativity kills every chance of survival no matter the actual situation might not be that worse. Some of the main causes told by Daniel (2011) which people have in their minds for fearing aging and despising it absolutely are “isolation, loneliness, lack of respect, and above all, virtual disenfranchisement from the society they built” and all these causes compel people led towards aging to torture themselves psychologically. The need of the times is that the American people should literally stop viewing aging as some sort of disease which could be cured or prevented by spending large amounts of cash on plastic surgeries. “The institutionalization of ageism has its roots in the increasingly negative way the United States views older adults” (Nelson, 2005, p. 208). Building more and more retirement homes is also not a good approach because it is nothing but an attempt to separate the older community from the youth. Another need of the time is conscious aging about which awareness should be raised. Conscious aging is a totally different approach which should be applied to getting older and which “moves beyond our cultural obsession with youth toward a respect and need for the wisdom of age” (Rechtschaffen, cited in Daniel, 2011). Summing up, this much becomes clear from the above discussion that Americans think that even death is made miserable by aging because a lone, depressed, rejected, and financially unstable man/woman would definitely hope for death every second. So, a very negative, dark, and ugly picture about aging is painted in their minds which encourages them to do everything they can to avoid looking older and maintaining the beauty associated with youth. Negative behaviors and attitudes towards the elder community fuel the fear of aging and death. This is because when people see elders around them subjected to very negative behavior, they start developing thoughts that they would eventually end up in that same state in which they would be humiliated, lone, and dejected. References: Aging of America. (2011). Ageism: Igniting Depression and Diminishing Quality of Life for Geriatrics Everywhere. Retrieved from http://medtopicwriter.com/2011/04/06/ageism-igniting-depression-and-diminishing-quality-of-life-for-geriatrics-everywhere/ Belli, K.B. (2004). The Anti-Aging Trend: Capitalism, Cosmetics and Mirroring the Spectacle. Journal of Communication, Culture & Technology, V. Retrieved from http://gnovisjournal.org/2004/11/15/the-anti-aging-trend-capitalism-cosmetics-and-mirroring-the-spectacle/ Brains, J. (1991, April 02). America's fear of aging. THE BALTIMORE SUN. Retrieved from http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-04-02/news/1991092131_1_older-people-hierarchies-fear-of-aging Daniel, J. (2011, June 21). Learning to Love Growing Old. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199409/learning-love-growing-old Gauron, J. (2008). Our Cultural Fear of Aging. Retrieved from http://businessinnovationfactory.com/nhf/blog/our-cultural-fear-of-aging Nelson, T.D. (2005). Ageism: Prejudice Against Our Feared Future Self. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 207-221. Paul, S. (2011). The Fear of Aging. Retrieved from http://conscious-transitions.com/the-fear-of-aging/ Robbins, J. (2006). Healthy at 100: The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the World's Healthiest and Longest-Lived Peoples. Random House. Read More