Barbie the Baby Boomer has turned 50 this year—yet she still looks like a teen-age model!

Have you seen the two new 50th anniversary Barbie? One has dark skin and dark hair; the other light skin and blond hair. Both have tiny waists, narrow hips and impressive busts, even with today’s transplants. She isn’t concerned about wrinkles, love handles or sagging breasts. She seems confident with no age attack at 50.

Is this age-esteem or just an image?

I think I understand why Barbie has not changed even after 50 years. - She’s just an image. She hasn’t lived! Barbie hasn’t raised a family with all the joys and trials the role of mother entails. She hasn’t juggled a career with raising children, keeping romance alive with her partner and still find time for herself.

Barbie hasn’t watched her spouse walk out the door saying that she could keep the kids and the house but with no means to do so. She hasn’t buried her favorite pet or cried at the funerals of family and friends. She never was fired from a job, suffered with broke bones, fought to rid her body of cancer or questioned what tomorrow might bring.

Of course she did live in our imaginations as we played with her. And we loved her for all she was able to do and be in our creative minds. But to live in someone else’s imagination is not living. You need to have your own dreams and to act on them in reality.

Oh yes, Barbie may appear beautiful and confident, but without someone to play with her she is nothing but an empty doll with no substance. No wonder she doesn’t age. She hasn’t lived.

I’d rather have an occasional age attack and feel old momentarily. I’ve earned every one of my wrinkles and wear them proudly. I’ve learned through age-esteem that real beauty comes from passions, excitement and love we experience first hand. Age-esteem grows out of the crises we have conquered and through which we have acquired new confidence and strength. It comes through living!

Bonnie Lou Fatio

www.AgeEsteem.com

Tags: 50 years, age, age attack, age-esteem, AgeEsteem, Barbie, Bonnie Lou Fatio, wrinkles