Faces - What do they tell you?

When you hear the word ‘face’, what is the first thought that comes to your mind?

There are so many attributes of our lives which are associated with our faces.

In Chinese culture, there is a lot of focus on ‘having face’ or ‘saving face’ or ‘giving face’. Face there is equated with status, prestige & honour. Not very different from Indian culture, isn’t it?  

The face glows with pride, is hidden when shamed, turns red with anger and blushes with pleasure or embarrassment.

I find faces very interesting. Whenever I am in the bus or train or am at the market or restaurant, wherever I am, I observe people’s faces as they go about their business. I can’t help but wonder about the story behind the face. Are they happy, are they sad, are they grieving, are they scheming? Is that well dressed man a good father or a child abuser? Is he a good husband or a wife beater? Is she cheating on her husband? Is she a good daughter? Did this couple start off their day with words filled with love or have an argument this morning? Is she mourning or is there something irritating her eye? Are they benevolent or malevolent? And let alone others what does my face reveal?

  

Source : Google Images

Source : Google Images

The faces of children and the elderly are the most charming. Children’s faces are fresh, innocent and completely devoid of any lines associated with life’s ups and downs. A face which is yet to see life. At the other end of the spectrum are the faces of elderly with so many deeply etched lines, each one having it's own story to tell. These well-lined faces talk about a life fully lived. These are the two sets of humans who cry, laugh, show their emotions without worrying about who is watching them. Children don’t know yet that they should hide the emotions and the elderly don’t care.

In the middle of the spectrum are those who have started to live life in all its glory. They are in the process of getting all those wrinkles and lines. Could be lines of laughter or could be lines of worry. Maybe both.

Source : Google Images

And there-in lies the interesting part. Many belonging to this segment try so hard to keep a smooth face, by hiding the lines with make-up or erasing with Botox or with some other treatment. As we grow up we learn to present a different “face” to the world by hiding our true emotions or age o. We feign being brave and cheerful when we are crumbling inside, we feign ignorance when we know what is going on, we feign pleasure when we want to stick a dagger into someone, we feign anger when we are not, we feign acquiescence when we don’t agree, we feign caring when we really don’t care, we laugh when we want to cry and so on. We learn to mark our true emotions. Is it any wonder that there are phrases like ‘taking things at face value’, 'two faced', 'poker face', etc?

Source : Google Images

How liberating it would be to show our true emotions or to admit to our real age! Oh, the freedom in proudly showing off all those lines and wrinkles, which are indicators of a life lived fully. And life would be so simple.

So strange that when one is young, we are in a tearing hurry to become an adult and when we are adults we do so many things to our body to look young. 

But there is a dead giveaway no matter what people do to their face. When makeup and Botox masks a person’s face, their eyes give it all away. The eyes be it jaded or innocent or sparkling, always reveal a person's journey through life, to some extent, especially in their most unguarded moments.


What do you think?

For A-Z Challenge 2014


Here are some of my fellow challengers:

http://janakinagaraj.com/ - Janaki Nagaraj

http://afshan-shaik.blogspot.sg/ - Afshan Shaik

http://cynthology.blogspot.sg/ - Cynthia  Rodrigues Manchekar

http://artofleo.wordpress.com/ - Leo

http://juztamom.blogspot.in/ - Juzta Mom