Screening

My schools occasionally tested our vision and hearing. I enjoyed it because I pulled the same gag each time. The eye exam involved a plastic paddle we held over one eye while reading through a chart of letters at a distance. I was lucky to have 20/20 vision and read the letters quickly. After acing the exam with both eyes, I’d hand the paddle out to open space, pretending I could not see the nurse in front of me. Once they dismissed their concern, I’d finally get my laugh.

Shortly after I graduated from high school, I went to the optometrist. It was a routine checkup because I had perfect vision, but it had been a few years. The doctor decided I needed glasses, even though I could see just fine. I picked out some frames and went on with my day.

A couple of weeks later, I picked up my new lenses. Luckily, the cultural winds had shifted on glasses, and my frames were smart and snappy. Unlike the dweebs and nerds with glasses in the years before me. Sorry, nerds.

I put the bag of goodies in the passenger’s seat and pulled out of the parking lot. At the first red light, I waited to turn onto the highway. I put on my glasses.

WOAH! I was Dorothy looking out of her black-and-white farmhouse world into the full-color Land of Oz. There was a crispness to everything. The street names were readable. I didn’t struggle to see license plate numbers or the model of a car near me. I could even read the smaller letters on billboards.

For a long time, I knew my vision was perfect. It faded slowly, so I didn’t notice anything changing. I subconsciously knew that everyone else’s experience was the same as my own. Before I got glasses, I had no idea people were capable of seeing that clearly. The crazy thing about not knowing what you don’t know is that you don’t even know you don’t know it. Perhaps I should assume there is more to know.

Where might your experience be different from mine? What might I not know I don’t know? Am I staying inside Dorothy’s farmhouse and remaining unaware of a colorful landscape?

Be curious, be kind, be whole, do good things.