Thought of the Day 02.22.10

A couple weeks ago I went to the optometrist for the first time in eight or nine years. Because it had been so long since my last exam, there were all sorts of new technologies I’d never “seen” before. But the one which most surprised and irritated me was the eye drops which dilated my pupils and made it so I couldn’t see properly.

I was close to a Dollar Tree, I just went and purchased a pair of “cheater” glasses to get me by with reading. Of course, half of my irritation with this event was that I needed the right glasses in order to find the right glasses. I succeeded nevertheless.

But for that afternoon, I had a unique experience: not being able to see without help. It was useful for me to experience the distress most people have come to live with all the time. In addition, there were moments where I was worried that the condition might not go away since I’d never had those drops before. Of course they soon returned to normal, but I will say this for the experience. Even a temporary loss of something so precious made me far more grateful for my eyesight than I had been before.