Online Reporter
Fadzayi Maposah-Correspondent
As I stand before the mirror, I confront the undeniable truth: I may be on the path to developing wrinkles, or perhaps I am in denial about the ones I already have.
Yet, I remind myself that these lines are mere markers of a life well-lived. They tell stories of laughter, challenges, and growth. I embrace them, knowing they will not define me or diminish my spirit.
I have told myself that these lines of life lived will not put me down.
In fact, I choose to look at them with a lot of pride and joy.
Having lived for over half a century, who am I to wish away the evidence of my journey? Many who left this world before reaching my age were denied the privilege of such a life. Each line on my face tells a story of experiences, growth, and resilience—a testament to the richness of my years.
Whenever I want to use my grey hair as a sign that I am old, there are some who say that having grey hair no longer means old age.
For this, I blame all those who are going around tinting their hair and giving it grey highlights.
Grey hair used to be privy of old age and years lived, now, it can be just be done by buying a tube of hair tint and wala one is grey haired.
The issue with these instant grey haired people is that they are also quick to change.
They can move from having grey hair to maroon or it plum or mahogany hair in less than a year!
Hair colour can also be made to suit mood and season. Such is technology.
Hair dressers are becoming more creative; one can have as many colours as they want on their hair. You can have the Zimbabwean national flag colours on your head and be a moving national figure!
Back to my face and wrinkles.
So after the lengthy look in the mirror, I learnt that my once chubby cheeks are not as round as they used to be.
So I was on some deliberate move to lose weight and the progress has been good.
Now the focus is on maintaining the weight levels that I have reached and I continue to encourage myself to remain on a roll!
I am my greatest cheerleader!
With the weight loss and the aging process that it is on a roll too, I have noted that my cheeks look higher. My face looks like a fine piece of art. Just thinking that while looking at the mirror made me smile. The smile revealed the gaps where I once had teeth.
The teeth that left the gaps were thrown away in a dentist`s bin.
I did not lose the teeth all at once.
It was over some time. Now I cannot say that it was a result of poor oral health care that I ended with the gaps.
I try to take good care of my teeth, because I know the pain of having a tooth with a cavity.
I also know that when early attention is given to the tooth, one may not have to lose it, rather there are ways of ensuring that with a filling it can be as normal as having the real tooth just as it was.
My tooth gaps or “mavende” in vernacular are on the side and when I laugh or even smile widely, unless I cover my face they are there for everyone to see.
Then at times when the gaps are revealed to those near me, one can say “maida zvinotapira ka saka makabviswa mazino,” loosely translated it means that “you loved the sweet stuff, that is why your teeth were removed.”
I have a sweet tooth, I confess. I am not able to fully put the blame on the sugary food items, though I know that they contributed. Maybe add too to that uniformed oral care.
Throw in some genetics and like magic the “mavende” are there.
I left out bone crushing. This brought back memories of those rich, dark beef bones from the past, a time when my passion for meat was undeniable.
So you see my “mavende” are there as a result of a combination of factors.
Yesterday was a public holiday.
It was National Youth Day. The theme was: Empower Youth, Secure the Future. When we are young, the entire world feels like it is at our beck and call
Wrinkles, grey hair and “mavende” are some things that are better identified with very old people and the youth look at the elders as the ancient giants. They never fully relate that with each passing day they are moving to join or aptly put to replace the ancient giants!
While one should enjoy their youthful years, this should be done responsibly.
I remember many years ago there was a catch line that said: Enjoy your youth, do not spoil it.
The catch line simply captured the reality that it is possible to enjoy one`s youthful years but at the same time there was a shadow lurking behind that if one was not careful, they could spoil being young.
Spoiling the youthful years like me losing my teeth can be a combination of many things.
One of them is lack of information.
Having teeth is not enough, one must know how to take care of the them or risk losing them.
There is an option of having false teeth where the gaps are, I am just not ready for that! Being young and having a body high on hormones is not enough.
One must have information about the body and the hormones so as to understand how best to relate to it. One way of empowering the youth so that the future is secured is through information dissemination on all aspects of health.
An empowered youth is best equipped to make informed decisions. This is a duty for the youth and the adults too. If the young people lack information on how to conduct themselves, the future is certainly doomed.
