Daphne and the Laurel Wreath

For some reason or another, one day, Apollo decided to poke fun at Eros, who was essentially cupid. In response, Eros shot a golden arrow at Apollo that made him fall in love with the nymph Daphne. Eros then shot a leaden arrow at Daphne, making it so that she could never fall in love with Apollo. Apollo chased the nymph to the river of her father, Peneus. Apollo, using his authority as a god in a fairly perverse manner, convinces her to bathe in the river. Daphne begged for her father to help her, and in response, he made the fairly reasonable choice to transform her into a laurel tree. Saddened, Apollo made a laurel wreath from said tree. Apollo vowed that she, like him, would have eternal youth, her leaves never to turn brown. It's a bit late to show sympathy, though, Apollo; it probably would've been better to consider her feelings after realizing she was running away from you.

 Eternal youth is a concept that is only desired by those that do not deserve the power or privileges one obtains upon becoming an adult. United States' "culture" is constantly centered on young people, whether it be advertisements, movies, or video games, the common trend seems to be that youth is "in," and old people are simply humans past their prime, slowly rolling downhill toward a grave. This is not at all how we should view aging. Aging is a natural process that everyone goes through. The people that are young today will be the old ones in fifty years, but they are still the same people, just adapting to a different style of life. Every stage of life has its advantages and disadvantages. Kids can watch TV, play video games, or poke around the internet for hours on end, but if their parents make a rule, they have to follow that rule. On the other hand, adults can enforce whatever rules that they want because now they are the ones that own the house, but they still have to work a 9-5 job that takes up much of their time. Finally, when one settles into old age, while they lose much of what was once precious to them, family members, flexibility, and even health, they have no work to look forward to and often can live out the rest of their days simply relaxing, satisfied that they live a fulfilling life.

If one asks for eternal youth, they are really only asking for about a third of what life has to offer. In my personal opinion, one's life is never "over," despite what plenty of melodramatic teenagers will say. Life is a conglomeration of our own personal experiences as well as the experiences that all humans have in common so that we may relate to one another. Youth, middle age, and old age all provide such unique and general experiences, and as such, they are all an essential part of life that I feel should be experienced if one wants to live a complete and full life.