You know the saying, "A camel is an animal which looks like it was made by a committee." Committee meetings in almost every case are the place for compromise, diplomacy, or careful one-upmanship. The members spend ten minutes analyzing the problem, fifty minutes arguing about it.
There are good reasons why the conference or committee usually breaks down. Generally the man running it is the boss. He knows it, and you know it. He is judging you. Your promotion, pay raise, or even your security depends in part on the showing you make in conference. One doesn't dare to do anything daring, does one? At least, not unless it is well calculated. Spontaneity is decidedly not cricket. Yet spontaneous ideas are usually the ones which make a difference.
Then there is nothing democratic about committee meetings. Ideas can't be discussed openly in a dictatorship. In the usual conference the ideas of the boss carry more weight than anyone else. He has his prejudices, and his preferences are well known. It's easy to step on the toes of other committee members too; to seem to hint that Joe's project is bogging down, or that Pete really should have come up with your idea. It's better to shut up than to start a feud.
Most of us are oh so very civilized in committee, and therefore the meeting deteriorates into a sort of hen session in which everyone praises everyone else while trying to get the knife between his neighbor's ribs, quickly and deeply. First, "That's a real great idea, Joe, you can sure come up with them." And then the lunge, "Remember old zipper shoe promotion?" The company lost $876,000,000 on that one, and good old Joe was responsible.
Then, of course, there are the feuds. Committee members often take to the battle lines ready to take pot shots as soon as anyone has a new idea. If not on principle, then certainly for sport. It's easy to be clever when negative, and after all, if you didn't get money for your spring promotion, why should Pete get his?
There are many more solid reasons why the conference rarely produces new ideas. It is usually called for reasons of judgment or coordination. The atmosphere is judicial. Company policy, finances and other such essentially negative matters are of prime concern. Often they should be, but add to this man's natural tendency to turn down ideas, and you get the usual negative conference.
The preservation of the celebrated beauty of the sixteenth century, Ninon de L'Enclos, is a well-known instance of this theory. This woman was remarkable for her wonderful physical preservations. At the age of eighty, creditable authorities state she retained the great beauty of her girlhood. Her face having the freshness of youth, and being as free from the lines of age as it had been at twenty and her white-powdered hair, then fashionable, added to her youthful appearance.
From the data the writer has been able to gather, her smoothness of skin and freedom from wrinkles was due solely to persistent daily friction of the skin of her face, combined with an exercise for the muscles of the neck and throat. Little was known of the laws of scientific physical culture at that time, but as Madam de L'Enclos retained her elasticity of body and graceful figure to the last, it is evident that some system of exercises was systematically and persistently practiced. In that way alone could her youthful condition have been preserved.
Usually the first marks left by time on the human features �" and they are common to us all �" are the wrinkles extending from the nostrils to the corners of the mouth and beyond. As the years advance these are joined by parallel wrinkles, somewhat shorter, about half an inch distant on the cheek. Still later, another, and even shorter, wrinkle appears at a further distance of less than half an inch. Others are also formed, beginning at the corners of the mouth, and extending downward with a slight inward curve.
Wrinkles on the forehead with a slight downward bend at the ends which parallel the line of the eyebrows, appear. These are generally from three to five in number, according to one's age. The wrinkles commonly called “crow's feet" spread, fanwise, from the outer corners, of the eyes over the temples, and are also usually from three to five in number.
The skin below the eyes becomes loose and creased. These creased lines start from the corners of the eyes, slightly curving and overlapping each other. By this time one or two lines usually appear at the sides of the neck, commencing at a point back of the ears, extending below the jaw, and slanting downward to the throat. Immediately behind the ears, too, the skin becomes slightly loose; two short wrinkles form, and a line appears extending down to, and under, the neck. At the next stage a great number of very short, tiny lines begin to appear all over the face and neck �" some parallel, others intersecting. These lines give the skin a withered appearance. The freshness of youth has departed. Now, the skin under the chin becomes loose, too. All of the long lines meet and overlay and interweave, and combine with the short ones, just appearing to form a tangled web of crisscrossing that deepen as the years advance. This is the skein of life. This is the spinning of time. And the pattern is never beautiful!
The only sure method of erasing these lines is by friction. And this is best accomplished with the palms of the hands. This treatment, if began when the disfiguring lines first appear, and if methodically and daily practiced along with the exercises for the muscles of the face and neck, will surely result in a very marked and satisfactory improvement in the personal appearance.
Both Bill Weaver & Ismael D. Tabije are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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