I hadn’t seen one of my neighbors for quite a while, so I texted her to see how she was doing. She replied that she was in Germany and would be back in about two weeks.
Her dad had passed away not long ago, so I thought she was taking a break. But when she came back and I invited her over for a cup of tea, she confessed that she had surgery on her face. First, I was shocked and asked her what had happened. She smiled and said, “I had a face lift.”
So far, I only knew people in the United States who did that, but I never personally knew anyone here in Switzerland. I looked at her closely. I had to admit, she looked great. She explained the whole procedure and showed me the scars, about six of them. Two along the hairline, two behind the ears and two in front of them, and then one more below the chin. She smartly covered them with a hat and her hair. I don’t know her exact age, but she looked very attractive, indeed!
Afterward, I googled her surgeon. He seemed to be a master in his field and was very good-looking! In an online interview, he was asked why women, or men for that matter, want to go through the procedure. He answered, “It’s very simple. If they have trouble with getting older and no longer like what they see when they look in the mirror, they have the option to have a face lift. Or, if they pull up their face and see that they like it better that way, then they can also make the decision to have a face lift.” And he added, “My passion is to make people happy.”
I know it is very popular to have face lifts. Still more women, and more and more men also seem to have trouble looking older. Therefore, why not just go and look like 20 or 40 or 60 again, depending on when you have your first lift. It’s that simple. It only costs about as much as a small to mid-size car. Within a few days you feel better, and in about six weeks it completely heals. Complications are very rare. There you are, young as ever! Really?
I also look into the mirror and think, oh boy, I am getting older. Where have all these wrinkles come from? I pull up my face and think, this would look better. I might look more attractive! Should I have a face lift, too?
What do I get from it? I might get a few more looks from men, but a few more jealous looks from women, and a few more compliments about how good I am looking for my age. However, it also gets you scars. They will keep pulling. You will feel them forever, and you can’t undo the operation. You cannot put back the cut-away skin without having more and more scars, which keep pulling. Nobody tells you that! I know from a very small intervention I had to remove a mole on my wrist where the surgeon had to pull together the skin. I can still feel it once in a while pulling, a faint pain.
But the essential question I have is, “Would it really make me happier? It doesn’t stop my aging. So, for me, the answer is clearly, NO.
Our society lives with a youth obsession. The focus lies on outer values like good looks, thinking that gives you success and recognition. Maybe it does, at least for a little while. We like to drink aged wine, but don’t like to age ourselves. For me it’s simply too short sighted to believe that just to look younger will make me feel younger or give me true happiness.
I think deep down we know that true happiness comes from the silent shining light within, not from the loud external flashy light. As we gracefully age, we acknowledge the fact that we have accumulated not only knowledge but also wisdom. We have learned from mistakes, so we don’t repeat them. We have fallen down and learned how to get up again. We might have had accidents, and we have managed to heal. Accepting our face as we grow older, also means we accept our life the way it unfolds, the way it ages. This we cannot change.
All the wrinkles tell a story that can be read in an older person’s face. I think we should and could be proud of them. What a rich life! To stand up to all life’s ups and downs is empowering. I do not want to hide, nor distort my true face.
I don’t think we need a face lift, but we all could once in a while use an UP LIFT!
You might argue, “A face lift could give me this up lift!” “So then,” I would reply, “Get one! See for yourself.”