I had cataract surgery last Wednesday. The first of two. Thousands are performed daily so I won’t be looking for get well notes. Easy, peasy. When I got home and the blurring disappeared, a most amazing thing happened. It wasn’t especially the clarity I was experiencing but a whole new blaze of vibrant colors. It was literally eye opening.

When I put my hand over the eye yet to be done the prism in the new one was even more spectacular. On the other hand when I closed new one there was a smog like haze in the old one. Almost a dirty brown. All this years there had been a very subtle growth of a lens that over time clouded what the world looked like. Definitely food for thought. 

I was elated by my new found technicolor. I was jabbering away even more than usual. High on life or some sort of crap like that. The feeling lessened a touch but not gone just yet. It is still very cool a week after. Ah, this should be time for one of my manyfold epiphanies. Not really, but a new appreciation for this crazy machine called my body does exist. 

Google your eyes to speak and you will be blown away by the complexity of the structure. Rods, cones, irises, corneas, retinae, optic nerves. Yikes. Who the hell figured out how to put this all together in the first place? Of course there is no superior being. We just evolved. Really?

The eyes are the window to the soul. They and the sense of sound are our ways of communicating and understanding. We look, we savor, we inspect, we internalize. Taking it all in and drawing a conclusion. We deem things attractive or ugly by a quick glance. The first impression is lasting. Unfortunately they can be  the tools of our bias and affection at the same time. 

There is near sightedness, farsightedness, myopia, crossed eyes and even blindness. Do they all refer to the physical only or perhaps those ailments too have a deeper meaning? Do we have rose colored or dark lenses? I hope that is worth thinking about. 

I got to thinking about vision in a more metaphorical sense. What has my vision of life been and what do I hope it will  be? More importantly is there anyone else with those same feelings? Not so much looking for kindred spirits but rather can we all fit into this world with so many variant views. 

We fantasize or at least I do. I find as I get older that some of those aspirations are not quite as lofty as in prior years. It is not a matter of getting depressed or feeling worthless but pragmatic. There is only so much we can do. More importantly some of those dreams are beyond achievable. 

Today we tell each other non stop of what you need or how happy we we could be if only? The elixir of the traveling salesman is just there for the taking. We paint endless pictures of what could be. The new car. The skinny body. The riches of a mansion. Faraway places. Why can’t that view be simple, bucolic, achievable? 

Unfortunately we are careening towards election time. Parties put together platforms that are more hail Mary passes than a cogent plan. We quiz to see the candidate’s vision of America. We get bobs and weaves and brushoffs so we really don’t know where they stand. You get the picture. 

Of course we have seers and prognosticators. In their infinite wisdom they know what is going to happen in the stock market or warfronts. Globalization is here to stay. The stock market won’t do anything this year. Russia will annihilate Ukraine. China will replace the United States as THE world power. Dewey will win. (Wait, that was too long ago. ) Is their vision flawed or a little too cock sure? Artificial Intelligence? Now that is a wild card one could not begin to define. Or foresee.  

If you have hung there with me on this one I hope I have opened your eyes to just a little. I am right there with you. The overwhelming result of this whole mess has caused me to just look around me. Maybe reexamine how I look at things? Is there another vantage point or even alternative route to this thing we call life? Maybe some adjudged schmuck who  really isn’t that bad after all? Maybe a scorned idea that might make sense? Here’s looking at you. 

As always

Ted The Great

Factoids:

Seeing is so important that it takes up more than 50% of the brain’s functionality.

The most active muscles in your body are in your eyes.

Your eyes contain 7 million cones which help you see colour and detail and 100 million cells called rods which help you to see better in the dark.

It takes just one-tenth of a second for people to judge someone and make a first impression. Research finds that the more time participants are afforded to form the impression, the more confidence in impressions they report. In the first eight seconds after meeting a prospect, the prospect evaluates your social standing.   Be on the lookout!

A true visionary is someone who can see beyond the common, the ordinary, and the expectations that surround them into the great possibilities of what could be.