Isabel Designs

I’ve been putting off ordering new glasses for over two years now. My eyes have changed to the point where I need bifocals – I guess it happens to most of us after we pass the forty year milestone. My eye doctor said I could wait until I just couldn’t stand it anymore before biting the bullet. In this case, the bullet could have been $650.00 worth of lenses and frames! Yikes! So I’ve held off placing the order…until now. I broke my glasses.

Duct Tape & 18 gauge wire

It’ll take two weeks for my new glasses to arrive, and in the meantime, I’ve wired and duct-taped up my old frames. Yes, they look funny, and I get a good chuckle at myself when I put them on. They’ve become a social experiment for me. I leave them on when I go into the grocery store, or gas station, or wherever. The reactions are fairly predictable: my friends laugh and jab, but strangers take one look, and never make eye contact again. I have broken glasses – not leprosy! How many people in wheelchairs or with other visible differences experience similar reactions? Though I didn’t scientifically measure the results, my two week experiment was certainly enough time to ‘experience’ the awkwardness of people I encountered.

We have the ability to touch each other with our eyes every day – every time we look someone’s way. We’re all broken in someway or another – mostly on the inside. Today my challenge to you is another social experiment – never look away. Focus your ‘kind eyes’ on friends and strangers, especially if they’re ‘different’. Don’t just look at them – ‘see’ them – and take it to heart.

(By the way – I ordered new glasses online, progressive lenses and frames for a mere $66.00. Now we’re talking!)

Read Jackson Brown’s song lyrics: Doctor My Eyes