limited sight distance…
In the wild, I’d be dead. Some predator that looked to me like a friendly dog would turn out to be a hungry lion. My distance vision has been limited since I was in grade school, making life without prescription eye wear just one messy blur. But, with easy access to strong specs, I go about my business like I can actually see.
At 40, I began to notice that everything at arm’s length was becoming blurry as well. Since I make my living in front of a computer which is at arm’s length, that was a huge problem – another hungry lion threatening my survival. I gave progressive lenses a try. Fell down a lot, threw up a lot. The vertigo caused by the constantly shifting field of view was not something I could adapt to. Tried Bi-focals and spent my days trying to align my head to the proper viewing area. I felt like a frog – eyeballs half-submerged in a pond. My dogs, my garden, everything I needed to tend to, everything was below the water line in the “reading” portion of my glasses.
Eventually, I gave up and resorted to regular glasses for distance, prescription computer glasses for arm’s length tasks and removal of all eye wear for close-up work. The juggling act is not amusing, particularly when shopping. I must remove the distance glasses to read the price tags. That’s fine until I get to a store where the prices are posted on the shelves. To determine the price of an item on the bottom shelf, I must get down on all fours, remove my glasses and assume what would be a very suggestive position if I were much, much younger… My new rule is, if it’s on the bottom shelf, I don’t need it.
Today I realized I have a drawer full of old eyeglasses – frames showing wear, older prescriptions, and those blasted bifocals. So I called the shop where I buy my glasses and asked them if they collect eyeglasses for redistribution. Yes, they do. I asked how it worked. “Well there’s an organization that take the glasses to developing countries and people who need them come and try on glasses till they find some that help them see a little better.” I knew this, really I did, but suddenly the thought of it made me feel spoiled, and far more nearsighted than usual. You see, I’d just taken one pair of my perfectly made custom-prescription eyeglasses in for repair because there were some scratches on one lens that were annoying me while I watched TV. Meanwhile, someone is waiting for me to donate my old glasses so that maybe they can see their loved ones clearly for the first time in years, or read again, or find work – or maybe even avoid that hungry lion.
And guess what organization collects and distributes these eyeglasses?
The Lions Clubs. Perfect!
