Oops this was published too quickly…
I woke up this morning thinking about my neck.
Specifically, as you might imagine, wrinkles. Those horizontal lines which shout and share my age. A seemingly inauspicious way to begin a day, right? That same day which only ‘ages’ from dawn till dusk, yet is the same ‘age’ from year to year. The birth of the new (calendar) year spawns a growth spurt resulting in longer days until the summer solstice, when as if exhausted by the hullabaloo of summer’s start, begins a steady decline to wizened daylight until after the winter’s solstice and the whole cycle starts again.
My neck, as luck would (not) have it, does not follow this same rule of nature.
The decline and rebirth of the day (and year) has an external cause: the earth’s rotation and tilt around the sun. But my aging neck is internal…..
The visible signs of aging across living organisms isn’t equal. Talk about ringing in a new year: no species ages like trees, growing taller, more majestic and more productive with each passing year. Trees’ years may be imagined by their height, yet they have to die and be cut open to count the rings marking their lives. I know trees are vital to keeping me vibrant – even more than my skin care regiment – but it’s still not fair. It’s certainly a slight from nature that trees alone not only increase oxygen output as they age – and are more valuable for their beauty.
Spite: is this the reason humankind is out to kill all the trees on the planet? Because they age effortlessly and gracefully and the cosmetic companies (and climate change deniers) don’t want a reminder they are not keeping up? No, that sounds too ridiculous even for this early in the morning.
Ah, talk about a species who ages well!
I sometimes think the strides in anti-aging treatments far exceed those in alternative energy sources and cancer cures.
As reason pulls me from mirror to computer, I remind myself aging is simple science. It’s mitosis or mitotic imbalance or epidermal (cell) retirement. I possess as many names for mitotic decline as anti-aging oils in my bathroom.
But it’s not just that my skin cells up and die – it’s that there are no new ones to take their place. It’s the imbalance of out with the old, but no new ones to plump back in their face – I mean place.
Simple science is all about equilibrium. If new cells don’t replace old cells than aging occurs. Matter cannot be created nor destroyed has nothing to do with skin cells – we’re talking biology not physics here.
Our aging all about the balance of new cells replacing old cells due to mitosis.
Simple science is the reason for trees regal aging: the oxygen/carbon di-oxide cycle or balance of trees taking our carbon dioxide waste and exhaling out oxygen. The same oxygen we need for vitality and life is because of the trees that take in our exhaust carbon dioxide.
Our faces mirror the need for balance everywhere in our lives. Economically, if more money goes out of our wallets than goes in, we experience a financial ‘death’ = debt. If we take more than we give to friends there is relationship death. If we eat more calories than we burn, our skinny jeans are buried in the donation bin.
Life is all about balance and getting what we need. Trees remind us our age on the inside is (and can be) projected out. Regardless of age, we can still bloom and give life.
Of course we need trees for more than reminders about graceful aging.
The oxygen/carbon-dioxide cycle is a normal cycle (like mitosis). Destroying the planet’s forests unnaturally destroys this cycle. Cutting down trees is aging the planet (aka climate change) and plaguing our health. But this we can do something about. Really. Restoring this balance is the simplest thing we can do to combat global warming.
Personally, I can live with wrinkles…. Without oxygen, not so much….
Earth day is weeks away. Let’s celebrate by planting trees.
Human Nature Concepts 