Caricature: a rendered image showing the features of its subject in an exaggerated or oversimplified way.
Here are a few I remember from Parade Magazine back in the day
The thing about caricatures is that there is no mistaking whom they represent. The person is recognizable but there's a reason my siblings were not pleased with the net effect. Caricature takes one's most superficial features and exaggerates them to the exclusion of other less obvious features that may, in fact, more accurately represent one's true personality.
Each of these three beautiful people above are so much more than their caricature rendering. Each of them went on to live a long life highlighted by service and generosity--something that shines through in these later portraits
I mention all this because I have come to believe that there is an inexorable force that will act upon us as we age:
Unless we choose differently, each of us will turn into a caricature of our real self.
Characteristics which have come to define us, often lesser characteristics, will be writ large, will be what is recognized and all that others see in us. We will become two-dimensional beings without depth of character, without the sparkle of personality, without the etch of well earned wisdom on our faces, the memory of grace in our words, or the example of service in our actions.
We have all known it to be so: "Great Aunt So-and-so, bless her heart" or the "crotchety old neighbor of many years"--personalities, but not really people. Sounds harsh, but I have felt it in myself. It is too comforting to do as I have always done, to believe as I have always believed 'til I become, at the least, predictable. That rut where I find ease is the fine line of caricature tracing its arc across my face.
Is it inevitable, this grinding into a shallow replica of one's self? It can indeed, be like the pull of gravity, the weight of years. It is not easy to overcome. It is not easy to turn into the kind of beautiful portrait that captures a lively inner life. Bob Hope, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Audrey Hepburn all became beautiful as they aged. Good genes? Well, Audrey Hepburn did have those remarkable eyes. But really what we are talking about is a life lived in such a way that it shines through. Bob Hope, true to his name, brought exactly that--hope, joy and laughter to those, literally, in the trenches. Eleanor Roosevelt created a whole second life of service in her later years, one that matched or surpassed her earlier significant contributions. Audrey Hepburn became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and advocated tirelessly for impoverished children.
So, how do you choose to do differently? The challenge is to continually engage life with an open mind. Eleanor Roosevelt famously said, "You must do the one thing you least want to do." Try waking up to that quote in the morning! I am not the first in my age group to find to our chagrin, that this imperative does not lessen with time; if anything, it increases. The sum total of life experience and hard-won knowledge can actually make it more difficult to take on the new. We've learned SO much in aging that it's easy to think we know a lot, have all the answers or have life figured out. No matter how true, there is so much more we do not know, have yet to learn, or just plain got wrong. It is in our willingness to let go that or at least hold it gently, that we open our minds and hands to other possibilities--and maybe avoid becoming a caricature of our real self.
I do not think that I will ever reach a stage when I will say, "This is what I believe. Finished." What I believe is alive...and open to growth.
Madeleine L'Engle
Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.
Isaac Asimov
