“Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know “why” I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.”─Will Rogers
Bessie is the model of wisdom, some of it painfully acquired. It doesn’t take a measured eye to understand this. Her face is wonderfully frosted by white hair, especially in her eyebrows and cheeks. Her four paws are also white now; they look like little boots. My theory is that her face and feet are high stress points that bear the brunt of her blindness. They speak volumes about how much she has learned and the accommodations she has made without a fuss. Bess is a billboard for the beauty of aging gracefully and all that the journey represents.
So here is the question: Why do many politicians work so hard to hide their age and the coinciding wisdom that growing older conveys? Let’s take a look at the two most recent candidates for President. Donald Trump was a brunette most of his life. Now he has orangish- blonde hair, a color you might see on the person sitting in front of you at a punk rock concert. Was this transformation natural, or is there something in the water down there at Mar-a-Lago? What do you think? And then there’s Joe Biden. Our current President had less hair in his mid-40s than he does today. How is that possible? If it’s his diet or yoga routine, he should share this information with the masses and assure himself a second term. Instead, no one asks or tells. Aren’t you just a little curious?
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, age 80, has a rich, thick head of dark brown hair that most women her age haven’t seen in the mirror since they were thirty-five. Brunette Senator Dianne Feinstein, 87, also comes to mind as a politician with ageless hair. They’re both from California, so I thought maybe it’s a west coast, Hollywood thing. But 85-year-old Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson from Texas takes the air out of that hypothesis. Her hair color changes periodically from almost black to shades of blond for apparently whimsical reasons, perhaps related to election cycles. Speaking of blondes, how many 71-year-olds do you know who have the shiny, natural, honey-blonde hair sported by Elizabeth Warren?
There are countless other politicians that seem to appear younger looking as their longevity in office expands. Is there a secret, underground salon in the nation’s Capital available to aging politicians, its address known only by the governing class? Perhaps the salon employs a highly skilled hair styling specialist whose business card is secretly passed between Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike, an apolitical coloring/thickening guru without affiliation. Maybe this is who Joe Biden was thinking about in his inaugural speech when he spoke about unity. Must be.
Apparently Senator Bernie Sanders, 79, wasn’t offered a card, or more likely he declined, along with grey haired 87-year-old colleague Chuck Grassley from Iowa. Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer seems perfectly comfortable looking all of his 70 years, and give extra points to former V.P. Mike Pence, 61, for unashamedly letting his hair turn white. Fifty-six-year-old V.P. Kamala Harris? Not so much. She has beautiful, youthful brown hair, sometimes with highlights, that women half her age would die for.
What’s behind this determined effort by some elected officials to not look as they are supposed to according to nature’s plan? And what’s wrong with us, the voters, for not making a bigger issue out of it? Instead of wearing their mantle of maturity with dignity and grace, as Bessie does, some politicians seem to be afraid they will lose votes if they look their age. I propose a theory: the greater the altered natural appearance, the less trustworthy the elected official. We love and admire our aging dogs more deeply than when they were puppies, don’t we? Let’s send Washington a message.
The fundamental question is: why can’t we be real here? Grey hair and baldness should be treasured attributes, well-earned by piling up the years. Somewhere along the way we seem to have gradually undervalued the wisdom of the soul that comes with aging and magnified the value and importance of youth. That’s ridiculous! Raise your hand if you think you were wiser and had more good sense in your 30s and 40s than your 60s, 70s or 80s.
Here is an idea: Have elected officials supply a photo from each decade of their lives as part of a political profile. Then we might know exactly when the cover-ups began; it would be public knowledge. The fallout would be elegant, the implied message simple: Be Who You Are, for Pete’s sake.
Meanwhile, Bessie doesn’t care. There are no mirrors in her world. Her profound wisdom is on display for all to see; her ageless beauty grows and grows. She would obviously look ridiculous with unnatural, colored hair. That would be silly, right?
Aging gracefully is an act of courage. Why hide it? Below are pictures of young Bessie and old Bessie. Hmmm, I know who I’d vote for.
