by My absolute favorite episode of The Twilight Zone is one in which a book loving nebuch finds that he may be the sole survivor of a powerful bombing and that he has all the time to read that he wants — but loses it all when his prescription glasses are shattered in an accident. I wondered how it was possible that he couldn’t find a suitable replacement but I imagine it might be difficult to find anything if your glasses are broken. An English company may have solved this issue with their innovative glasses which are adjustable by the wearer such that the prescription of the glasses match his or her eyes.
The idea, it seems, was for the benefit of people in remote areas who do not have the best access to eye doctors and don’t live within walking distance of dozens of eyeglass shops as those in major cities do. The person could get the glasses and put them on and adjust them until proper vision is found, so to speak.
I see this as beneficial for struggling families regardless of location. A family comprised of people who only need multiple pairs of glasses due to different prescriptions could get one or two of these instead and share them — it would work equally well for all. Even if they all had to get their own individual pairs of glasses, it would still be considerably cheaper in the long run for the family as there would not be a year to year consideration of changes to each family member’s prescription. Instead of having to get new glasses every year or two, the glasses can just be changed to the needs of the user.
Of course, there is one down side as I see it and that is that people’s perception of what is good for their eyes is not ever going to be as accurate as an eye doctor. When I took an eye exam the doctor had me judging if I saw better with one lens or another after another. While they all looked mostly the same to me, only my doctor had the understanding that one of the lenses was best for my vision and the rest were not as good. I suppose it would work well enough for people with little or no access to an eye doctor, however — close is better than nothing, right?
He ordered one hamburger, one order of French fries and one drink. The old man unwrapped the plain hamburger and carefully cut it in half. He placed one half in front of his wife. He then carefully counted out the French fries, dividing them into two piles and neatly placed one pile in front of his wife.
He took a sip of the drink, his wife took a sip and then set the cup down between them. As he began to eat his few bites of hamburger, the people around them kept looking over and whispering.
You could tell they were thinking, “That poor old couple — all they can afford is one meal for the two of them.”
As the man began to eat his fries a young man came to the table. He politely offered to buy another meal for the old couple. The old man said they were just fine – They were used to sharing everything.
The surrounding people noticed the little old lady hadn’t eaten a bite. She sat there watching her husband eat and occasionally taking turns sipping the drink.
Again the young man came over and begged them to let him buy another meal for them. This time the old woman said “No, thank you, we are used to sharing everything.”
As the old man finished and was wiping his face neatly with the napkin, the young man again came over to the little old lady who had yet to eat a single bite of food and asked “What is it you are waiting for?”
She answered….
“THE TEETH”
Love it! I think my father e-mailed me that at one point. Great story with a fantastic lesson and punchline 🙂
I agree that people will probably over-compensate on their self-prescribed prescription — but it is a good solution for use in the field.
Most certainly! Especially when that field is in a remote village, hundreds if not thousands of miles from an optometrist. 🙂
This article caught my eye because I too wear glasses and thought hmmm, changeable presciption glasses, that sounds cool. I used to wear full frame glasses but got tired of the look. I used to wear frameless glasses, but the cost of having to always get a new pair when my lenses changed got costly. My Mom and Dad wear glasses too, and so the cost of buying glasses gets pricey. It is a notable invention that probably best presents itself today with half-framed glasses. You get the best of both worlds: an eye doctor taking note of your prescription/eye health, and changable lenses. However, pleasing everyone in the family with a single pair of glasses can prove challenging. But I guess when money is tight, who cares about the look.