A smile drew across his face ...

A smile drew across his face as the photograph opened with a click in his computer screen. It was the picture of a group of friends in their mid forties and early fifties. He liked what he saw. He still looked young in that picture, ten years short of his actual age, give or take a few. He could stand out as the best looking guy in the group, the fittest of them all. As the day went on he could hardly refrain himself from sneaking a few quick looks to the photograph. Physical exercise was paying off.

Preparing dinner he chitchatted about this with his wife in the kitchen. She had seen the photograph too, on her computer. She smiled when he told her the satisfaction he felt by being in such good shape as the picture showed. She not only smiled, she also admitted that he indeed looked good. She could've just stopped there but she went on with the chat. That burst of pleasure he had when he saw himself on the photograph is not rare, it actually happens to almost everyone who goes through such a test, she said. The self we see on a recent photograph is not our current self but a much younger one. Our mind seems to enjoy playing such harmless little trick out of its own will. The benefit that brings is fairly obvious.

He hadn't got any reason not to believe her yet she sensed he needed proof. She told him how vividly she remembered the day grandpa told her he could no longer recognize the man in the mirror. He was well past his ninetieth birthday then and his mind's craving for playing tricks to build self-esteem had certainly started a steep decline.