MY-O-PIC

Presently, 30% of the world is myopic. By 2050, almost 50% of us will be.  That’s a staggering 5 billion people, half the world’s population!  Myopia is a vision condition in which near objects appear clear, but objects further away look blurry.  While one could apply this ‘short-sighted’ label to our thinking, it is an actual problem with our eyes.  The blurriness is caused by eyeballs that have grown too long.  In this stretched-out shape, they can’t properly focus images onto the retina. 

Researchers say two culprits are to blame: the lack of outdoor play, and prolonged time doing up-close activities like using digital devices.  The cure?  Go outside and look far into the distance.  When you do, more light enters the eye and reduces stress as well.  My personal cure?  Have kids.  In no time, not only will they know more than you, but they will also point out everything you’re not seeing!

Until cataract surgery, I could see great close-up but far away was iffy. The doctor had asked, “Do you want to see ‘up close’ or ‘far away.’  In hindsight, his question itself was troubling.  He was really asking, “Do you want to see the car that’s about to hit you or do you want to see the one that just did?” After surgery, when I was unable to read a single word on my phone, I asked him why.  “Because you asked to see at a distance,” he scoffed.  “I know,” I replied, “but you didn’t tell me I was going to lose all my close-up vision.”  “That should have been obvious,” he said as if he’d never met anyone dumber.

Now some would say we’re all myopic, born as we are into families we don’t choose, inheriting generations-old strands of DNA with no instructions included.  As we fumble along in the dark of our psyches, it’s a wonder we’ve survived at all.  Sometimes we can see exactly where we’re going.  More often than not though, it’s just a one foot in front of the other proposition: a blind guess.  

So, take in the view every chance you get.  Pictured above was mine for several days last year.  I still cannot look at it without sighing.  Beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder but the mind as well.  As Helen Keller said, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”