Glasses,
by Leonor Henríquez

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        “Grandma, what big eyes you have…” said Little Red Riding Hood.

“They’re so I can see you better!” replied the Big Bad Wolf.

We all remember this story from childhood, and it’s literally relevant because I recently had my annual eye exam.

Being a spectator of my own eyes was a heavenly experience.

Dr. Fung examined me with his modern machines, dazzling me with very bright lights, blowing air into my eyes, and giving me commands: open, close, blink.

And I, fascinated, watched on the screen next to him, those translucent spheres, my eyes, resembling the planet Mars, with red rivers, dark seas, and luminous volcanoes.

It seemed unbelievable to me that colors, images, faces, dreams, and memories lived there.

In the end, Dr. Fung confirmed that my eyes aren’t that bad, nothing that progressive lenses can’t correct.

I left the consultation with a prescription for new eyes, but the experience made me reflect on a different kind of vision.

Perhaps I need another kind of lenses, I told myself, clearer and less passionate, to see the world around me more clearly.

I confess that sometimes, my visceral temperament, I prefer to call it intuitive, makes me very susceptible to political myopia, financial presbyopia, and/or media astigmatism, the kind that makes me isolate myself from the noise.

However, in my favor, I may have good vision to precisely focus on the good things that lurk out there in times of adversity, a constant I’ve strived for in my life.

Perhaps I also clearly see the little things that constitute my daily source of delight, and that often inspire these lines.

In the end, I think the only one who really needs glasses, but those big, colorful ones that are in fashion now, is Little Red Riding Hood, because, confusing her grandmother with the wolf, as a grandmother myself, it would have made me feel very upset, haha…

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