different perspective

This post was going to be all about my latest rant.  The vision laws.  Just to give you a little background... contact lens prescriptions expire after one year, which basically forces you to have an eye exam every year, whether you need it or not.  My prescription hasn't changed in 3 years.  BUT... No one will dispense contact lenses unless you have a non expired prescription AND you can only buy one year's worth of contact lenses at a time.
No one will let you go around this law.  Believe me, I tried.

As I was preparing to write this post and use a couple zingers like, "Keep your laws off my eyes!" and "If I want to see any better than this I will go to the eye doctor!",  I came across a post on another blog.  It completely changed my perspective, so to speak.

My aunt Terry is working for the Peace Corps in Togo Africa for two years.  She is chronicling her adventures in a blog and it is just fascinating to read.  When I logged on to write my, 'Damn the FTC'  post I was getting caught up with her blog and the first post I read was this one.

Basically she tells how she has been handing out her own personal reading glasses to the people of her village, Tchekpo.  They were so thankful and overjoyed at being able to see things a little better they truly couldn't believe their eyes.  She says they have seen glasses in the village but they are definitely not a part of their lives, as she puts it.
There are many children in the village in school that have trouble seeing and others in the village that are trying to make a difference in the community but are unable to read all the resources.  In Tchekpo there are about 10,000 to 15,000 people and Terry's 12 pairs of reading glasses are going to run out soon.
She is trying to collect glasses to distribute to the people of this village she now calls home.  They will have a plan for matching the used, donated glasses to the needs of the people and hopefully will start to see the benefits as the villagers start to see a little more clearly.

As someone who has worn glasses since I was 8 years old, and as someone who is legally blind without corrective lenses, I know what a difference this can make in someone's life.  Here I was fuming about having too much vision care and a message was sent to me loud and clear to do something to make things better for people that don't have nearly enough vision care.

If you have any glasses that you or someone you know is no longer wearing, please consider donating them to this cause.  I will be collecting glasses over the next couple of weeks and sending them out at the end of the month.  If you are local, you can drop them off at my house, I will have a box on the front porch.  If you are out of town, please email me and I will send you my address or figure out a way to get them.  Please consider asking at your workplace or schools as well.  I will post again from Terry's blog when the glasses are received and hopefully success is achieved.  Thank you!