They circled each other, their fingers poised for striking. The smaller one lunged for the taller, hands going to armpits. The entangled pair writhed together for a few moments, one trying to get away from the other, even as she was trying to get back at her attacker. Aileen released a shriek when the tickling became too much and she burst into a fit of giggles. Her glasses slide down her nose as she laughed, then fell off, clattering onto the floor.
The pair stopped instantly, Amanda releasing Aileen and allowing her to pick up her glasses. As soon as the metal frames were back in her hand, Amanda leaped to the attack again, a smirk on her face.
“Ack! Wait! I lost one of my nosedudes again!”
“Is that the technical term?” I chuckled, watching as she searched around for the nose pad that fallen off her glasses.
“You know what?” Aileen replied, making a rude hand gesture to the entire lunch table.
Everyone laughed and joined in the search to find the missing piece of silicone. As I scanned the tile floor of the cafeteria, I considered the purpose of a nose pad.
Glasses did not always have the comfortable padding between nose and metallic frame. Not long ago, rims dug into the nose, squeezing the bone and pinching at fragile skin. Red marks were left on the flesh, and even bruising in some cases. Metal could easily cut skin, and if a person wearing glasses got punched in the face, the impact could cause an even deeper injury.
And a single piece of foam, and later, a piece of silicone, protects from the hurt people had to endure if they wanted to see the world around them instead of millions of blurs. The nose pads provide the comfort in eyesight, and vision should be never be painful. Seeing the world should be easy and pleasant. To have it be otherwise is to be cheated.
I’ve been wearing glasses since I was seven years old. If you feel the space behind my ears, your fingers will find an indentation in my skull where the glasses permanently reshaped bone with pressure. But this has been necessary: my nearsightedness has gotten progressively worse over the years, and now my eyesight lags at about 20/400. I know the important of glasses. And I know the importance of glasses that to do hurt to wear.
Great topic choice! Even though I haven't worn glasses in years (contacts are my correction of choice), I know the pain of nose pads. There's permanent marks in the side of my nose from them.
ReplyDeleteMy current glasses don't have pads. The frame lies directly on the bridge of my nose. They don't hurt and I haven't had trouble with indentations either.
Seeing is important--we'll do just about anything to maintain it.
I really like your topic choice! And you have an interesting way of bringing it to a close that works really well. The research (I'm assuming you researched this) works really well within this as well.
ReplyDelete