Happy Birthday to...Me
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Ageism in the gay community is such a horrible and prevalent occurrence. It truly seems as though so many things are simply youth specific. Guys seem to want to date younger and younger "boys", actually being reviled by men of their own age. Clubs play music geared towards youth, clothes are advertised to the kids who by the way could never afford them, and much of the media from news to entertainment is brought to us, by younger and younger people.

The gay community, has seemed to grasp onto this, "stay young forever", notion with a new found fervor. We buy enormous amounts of skin product, of which I must admit I am totally guilty of.

My bathroom is filled with everything for younger looking skin, sans hypodermic needles filled with Botox. If indeed I wasn’t afraid of injecting foreign bacteria into my face, I trust I’d have used so much botox by now that I would have had my face frozen to the point of drooling. We subscribe to the notion that gaining ten pounds makes us just not worthy of social contact. And we will nip, snip, suck and tuck as much as our wallet allows.

Well I am tired of this. I think that we should all grow old gracefully, embracing the natural process of aging. If we all would agree to this, we wouldn’t have to be afraid of exhaling as we passed by the gym on our way to the ice cream shop. We wouldn’t have to worry about each and every damn hair that is on our pillow in the morning. And we wouldn’t have to worry about all of those pesky fine lines and wrinkles that seemingly morph and land on our face in between mirror checks.

Best of all, we could actually celebrate our birthdays, and enjoy the cake that comes with them. No longer would I have to deny the fact that yes, I indeed was alive when President Kennedy was elected. What freedom this would be. Don’t you agree?

Who the hell am I kidding? Even if all of you did it, I’d still lie about my own age. I am a realist. Now let me go, as I need to go massage some concoction into my face that is age defying. I swear. It says so right on the jar. I need to be all smooth and wrinkle free for next year.

After all, I will be celebrating another birthday. I think thirty-six is a nice round number. I’ll be thirty-six again next year.

© Jimmy Palmieri, All Rights Reserved. Article provided by GayLinkContent.com