4 eyes...

 Today I had my eyes examined and found out that I do need  stronger lenses for close work. Since I started wearing glasses at the age of seven, this is a process I've gone through many, many times.  There was a time in my life when I wore contact lenses, but I gave that up when I started to need reading glasses over my contacts.  It got to be a bother to be taking glasses on and off while lecturing to a class.  Today then was a fun day for me, but while I was trying on frames, trying to decide which ones to select (a lengthy process), I overheard a little boy, about six maybe, and his mom.  She had him trying on frames and he found something wrong with every pair. Too heavy, too light, wrong color, they hurt his ears.  Excuses made in an increasingly teary voice.  You get the idea.  Finally he told his mom that he just didn't want to wear glasses.  The other kids would make fun of him.  I must admit I was surprised.  I thought wearing glasses was so common-place that no one even commented on it these days.  I guess I was wrong.  The incident reminded me of my wonderfully patient spouse's experience tutoring a fifth grader last year.  This boy couldn't read beyond kindergarten level and one of the reasons was that he needed glasses.  My spouse sent messages to the teacher and other administrative types that this boy needed glasses but nothing happened,  Evidently the parents wouldn't or couldn't buy him glasses.  My husband even gave him a pair of drug store reading glasses which really helped while they were working together but by the next week's session they had disappeared with no good explanation.  He tried this two or three times with the same results.  In my mind I have been vilifying the parents for not getting him glasses but now I'm wondering if teasing by siblings or classmates was part of the problem.  If so, how very sad.  Happily, the clever mom in today's incident began naming off sports figures who wear glasses and by the time I walked out she and her son seemed to be making progress.  And yes I did order new glasses but you will need to wait a week to see those.