Superficiality

Occasionally I ponder aging and why we seem to fear it so much. Do we fear the physical deterioration? The mental deterioration? (That scares me!) Do we fear it because it brings us closer to the end of our expected life-span? This morning I think it is in part because our culture is so superficial. Youth and beauty are admired and valued. The elderly are no longer valued for their years of experience and wisdom. They are pushed to the side and called senile. External beauty fades with age and we are constantly bombarded with advertisements for products that will help us stay looking younger longer. Appearance has superceded wisdom (which, I think, is why people tend to listen to celebrities spouting their completely nonsensical political views). Is that not the very essense of narrow-minded superficiality?