A couple days ago I bought a shelf from a woman on FB marketplace. Her profile pics made her look like an attractive 20-something year old. Yeah, I could tell there were a ton of filters on the pics but I have to admit that I was still fooled — I thought she obviously wouldn’t look as polished and perfect as her pics but would still probably be a reasonably attractive human. Then I got there and a withered old crone welcomed me. I thought this must be the seller’s mom, but nope. This was her. She only looked to be in her late 40’s but it was a rough late 40’s: weathered, dried out, tissue paper skin with millions of tiny wrinkles; beady little pig eyes; thoroughly scorched and frizzy hair. It was incredible, I was actually in disbelief that this was the same person from the photos I saw.
It blows my mind and makes me sad that anyone feels the need to create such an absurd illusion as to who they are. It says a lot about our society, superficial values, insecurities, stuff like that. It would be like me posting this pic and claiming it’s me:
I wonder if this woman does it because she finds she sells more stuff when she appears young and attractive. That’s very possible, and sad in different ways. Huh.
Whatever. I still wish people would care less about virtual junk and more about their real selves. Oh well, not much I can do about it except be grateful that I’m not on social media and seeing more of this or feeling pressure to join the trend. And I bought the scarecrow’s shelf and it looks pretty cool in our house now so hey, all’s well that ends well.
crimson highway 