April Monthly Blog

Over time, society has continued to value youth and beauty while evading aging as long as possible. Although death is a tragedy on all accounts, whenever a young person passes society reacts more intensely than when an elderly individual does and responds with phrases including "He was just so young" or "She had her whole life ahead of her". The nature of humans to cherish youth is extremely prevalent today and is evident within various works of art and literature. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, the obsession Dorian has with his youth is extremely obvious in the way he wishes he could be the painting instead. Not only does he wish to be young and flawless forever, but he believes it to be unfair that the portrait may stay youthful while he must grow old. Such adoration of youth is evident again when Sybil Vane dies and society is taken aback by her young age. While I understand and agree with society that youth is valuable and should be cherished, I also feel that focusing too much on it takes away from the long life that is available to people. I believe that just as many wonderful memories, if not more, are able to be made later in life when you've developed laugh lines around your smile and your skin is slightly worn and aged from your endless adventures. If people were more open-minded and lived each moment to the fullest, there would be no need to put all the pressure on the young members of society to make their early years their best years.