That B-word

One of the most depressing situations a woman of a certain age can ever find herself in is standing next to her 20-year-old aerobics instructor with a wrinkle-free cheerleader face. As the woman tries desperately to keep up with the perky bounce of the instructor, she’ll see that she is also jiggling—but in different parts. Feeling annoyed, she’ll decide to take the easier and less depressing route: Belo.

Our society should be worshipping women over 30 or 40 instead of scorning them. It is this segment of the population that is single-handedly keeping the medical profession afloat. They lavish billions of pesos on cosmetic surgery and beauty products in the pursuit of eternal beauty.

Thanks to those who overrate this B-word. Thanks to those who clearly delineate who goes under its fab exclusive wings and who are just not blessed enough by dear God—that is, blessed with good looks or with the money to attain good looks. But those who possess only the latter need a few more things: guts, for one thing; a durable skin, for another. After all, cash is not the only thing that spills in the battle against flab and wrinkles; there’s blood, too.

It’s amazing how society has heightened the pedestal it has put beauty on. Now it doesn’t just dictate our so-called “social” lives, it has gone on to dominate the work field, politics, and, heck, even our health. Remember how the boss favored the perky young applicant over the experienced but old-looking one. Remember going to the polls to vote for the hunk-y action star who probably couldn’t spell “bureaucracy” correctly. And now we go to medical institutions not to heal, but to risk our lives some more by “going under the knife.” We take pills made of God-knows-what and endure heart palpitations to “shed that extra pound.” All these efforts to satisfy “beauty”—a word whose meaning we constructed ourselves.

So when once upon a time, doctors would struggle to keep blood from gushing out of us, now they would gladly bargain some pints in exchange of, say, a chunk of fat added to our chests. And we would let them. In fact, we would brag about them in TV shows and sway those who are not yet jiggling in the right places to teach gravity which parts to pull.

Ayla Herazade E. Salendab, 25, hails from Buluan, Maguindanao.