Friday, January 18, 2008

Looking at the World Through Smudgy Glasses

I have discovered in the last couple of months a new pet peeve: eyeglasses in need of cleaning. Not just my own, which I just noticed are a bit smudgy in the lower left corner, but also the eyeglasses belonging to people with whom I am having a conversation. Does anyone else have this pet peeve?

I assume that I never noticed this "issue" before because I didn't wear glasses and couldn't relate to how miserable looking at the world through smudgy glasses can be. Or perhaps, I just couldn't SEE the smudges because I NEEDED glasses so desperately myself!

Anyways! Last Saturday I passed up the opportunity to reach out and tangibly improve someone's view of the world around them and it is kind of haunting me. An older friend was watching her grandkids play basketball at the same time I watched J.'s team play. In the sleepy blur of waking early on a Saturday morning and scrambling our family out of the house, I had forgotten to put on my glasses. All things considered, it could have been worse. Out of all the other items of clothing I could forget to put on in my sleepy daze, that one is the least harm done!! And Big D drove so pedestrians and squirrels were safe from me blindly driving through the town.

But back to the game! This sweetheart of a lady see's me squinting, takes off her bifocals (!!!) and tells me to put them on and see if they help. And here is where I could have tangibly improved her outlook on life...they were the most smudged and dusty glasses I have ever noticed in the last few months of my new pet peeve. They literally had a base layer of smudge like a glaze over the glass with specks and additional smudges sprinkled across every little cm of those glasses.

So what did I do? Did I snatch those glasses from her and run to the ladies room and wash them sparkling clean? Of course not! I politely looked through them briefly and regretfully said they weren't my presciption. Ah!! An opportunity lost. Well, I am personally tired of looking at the world through smudgy glasses so I am off to de-smudge the specs!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm with you sister!

If I know the person I might say "Can you see through those things?" and give them a hard time about it. But if the person is a stranger I don't say anything.

But I want to.

Anonymous said...

I suppose it was a kind gesture, but I find offering your prescription glasses to someone else a little strange . . .

meh said...

Kellie, you are braver then I. But then she was a sweet little Grandma...how could I give a sweet little grandma a hard time?!

Spaghettipie, it was a little strange! But funny!

Blue Skies said...

Imagine borrowing a pair of 5 year old's glasses.......Not only are they smudgy but there are dried chunks on them and they will probably fit over just one ear because the other ear piece is hopelessly bent.

Hop over to my blog and throw in your two cents on my recent post - your crystal clear perspective may be exactly what I need to get past my quandry......