The British Anti-Cosmetic Surgery League

British actors Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson (my favorite), and Rachel Weisz have joined forces in solidarity to fight against Hollywood pressure to have cosmetic surgery.

I've written before about how I feel about cosmetic surgery. My feelings were only further reinforced when I heard about a friend of my sister-in-law who had a botched nose job, which resulted in all sorts of further surgeries and pain...and her nose apparently looked fine before she went under the knife!

Says Winslet, “I will never give in. It goes against my morals, the way that my parents brought me up and what I consider to be natural beauty.”

According to close friend 52-year-old Emma Thompson, “I’m not fiddling about with myself. We’re in this awful youth-driven thing now where everybody needs to look 30 at 60.”

I applaud Weisz, Thompson, and Winslet for their courage in fighting against the pressures. With that said, the British public (in fact, everywhere but the U.S.) has always been more accepting of physical flaws in actors and celebrities.

Why not honor our aging and regard our wrinkles and sags as hard-won badges? Here's the most beautiful song about aging I know:

You're Aging Well by Dar Williams


Why is it that as we grow older and stronger
The road signs point us adrift and make us afraid
Saying "You never can win," "Watch your back," "Where's your husband?"
Oh I don't like the signs that the signmakers made.

So I'm going to steal out with my paint and my brushes
I'll change the directions, I'll hit every street
It's the Tinseltown scandal, the Robin Hood vandal
She goes out and steals the King's English
And in the morning you wake up and the signs point to you

They say
"I'm so glad that you finally made it here,"
"You thought nobody cared, but I did, I could tell,"
And "This is your year," and "It always starts here,"
And oh-oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, "You're aging well."

Well I know a woman with a collection of sticks
She could fight back the hundreds of voices she heard
And she could poke at the greed, she could fend off her need
And with anger she found she could pound every word.
But one voice got through, caught her up by surprise
It said, "Don't hold us back we're the story you tell,"
And no sooner than spoken, a spell had been broken
And the voices before her were trumpets and tympani
Violins, basses and woodwinds and cellos, singing

"We're so glad that you finally made it here
You thought nobody cared, but we did, we could tell
And now you'll dance through the days while the orchestra plays
And oh-oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, you're aging well."

Now when I was fifteen, oh I knew it was over
The road to enchantment was not mine to take
Cause lower calf, upper arm should be half what they are
I was breaking the laws that the signmakers made.

And all I could eat was the poisonous apple
And that's not a story I was meant to survive
I was all out of choices, but the woman of voices
She turned round the corner with music around her,
She gave me the language that keeps me alive, she said:

"I'm so glad that you finally made it here
With the things you know now, that only time could tell
Looking back, seeing far, landing right where we are
And oh-oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, you're aging, oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh and I am aging,
oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, aren't we aging well?"

Comments

  1. I love this philosophy and totally agree with it!
    Embrace your age and all your wrinkles people!!JS:)

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  2. Thanks for your comment. I agree! :)

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  3. Aging has been a major factor for people nowadays, especially for celebrities; it's becoming more of a trend. Well, we all have the right to decide on how we'll intellectually react to things like cosmetic surgery. However, we do not have the right to judge them for what they want and what they do unless we put our feet in their shoes.

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  4. Yes, aging is becoming more of a trend. :)

    I have the right to do anything I want on my own blog, actually. The point is that our American society and culture are obsessed by looking young at all costs.

    Americans spend over $10 billion each year on cosmetic surgery, including $1.2 billion on liposuction! Just imagine what better ways this money could be spent--ways that would enrich society.

    I applaud those celebrities who resist peer pressure and embrace their aging bodies. If more famous people did so, maybe everyday, ordinary Americans would feel better about growing old.

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