That Just-Perfect Angle: The Age of Images and Old Age

This piece is both a catharsis and an idle reflection: the former for the steaming orgy of grand delusions, and the latter for my fascination in things that comprise the former.

Circa 2005, The Morung Express: My first real mobile phone was a Sony Ericsson z700i. The device had a magical facility to it called 'camera.' The word "selfie" hadn't even reached the world then. The word 'Selfie' is believed first used or first used on the Internet by an Australian man Nathan Hope in 2002. The enterprising man posted an image of his hideously busted lips following a happy introduction to beer.

The word 'selfie' would invade our lives 6-7 years since. Anyhow, my colleague Sorei Mahong and I took what we know today in context as a selfie. Or a Twofie, whichever fits your butter.

Selfie: That first-person view of one’s self, fearfully doctored by profoundly embellished notions of goodness. Selfie: That intimate declaration of acceptance lovingly pacified by confident assurances of perfection–or the denial of imperfection.

Selfie: That just-perfect angle that balances the truth of every man as an island with the angry falsity that he’s the centre of the universe.

Selfie: A person’s deeply intimate meeting with own fantasies, when he looks into his own eyes.

Today, selfies and the art associated with them are anything but a novelty. They are virtually everywhere—delightful to the point of mild euphoria, ubiquitous to the point of noticeable fault, and tiresome to the point of overt insult.

I'd been thinking about that movement of hedonism and was talking with Momma about it the other day. The conversation stirred up this question:

One day I'll run out of youth, taut skin, and romance and fire, and reasons to make love with selfies. I'd have become old, wrinkly, and wearied.

Be assured that I'm not vetting our love—by delusion or by fact—for images. Therefore, let me be clear that I’m not denouncing our obsession with appearance. In fact, as awkward, ordinary, and insufferable as my face is (I have a small but successful acne business on it too!), I occasionally dip into a selfie or two too. A brisk calculation just might crunch a number of around 4-5 selfies to my credit since 2005!

Simply, this note is merely an attempt to express a contemplation to explain the difference that can be between

• Beauty as a fond reference that causes remembrance in people

Example: 'Naro was the queen of Facebook likes when she was young. Now at 40, she already looks like the behind of an asparagus gone gloriously wrong'

And

• Beauty as a token of legacy that causes fond remembrances in people.

Example: 'Naro was much loved in college because of her humility and compassionate work for the people. She is that beautiful even at 90!'

One day, we will fade into age—old, wrinkly, and wearied. We will have run out of good looks, youth, and out of selfies. How then would people remember you as: a beautiful person, or a person who was once beautiful? What they come to think of you will be beyond your control.

More importantly, how do you wish to determine the image people would remember you by? That is something you have control over. How? Simple: You can start with looking at people with the same eyes of beauty that you look at yourself.

And you’ll find that just-perfect angle. That just-perfect angle that will shape the face of your heart and life—and shape the eyes of people who look at you and your life. That just-perfect angle.