Giving the gift of sight

In comes a grandma. She’s been sitting outside, shaded by a big tree in the front yard of this little country church. She spoke little English. Slowly, using a cane, she walked over to me and sat in the hard wooden bench. She wore threadbare clothing, a sweater over her top and a skirt. The translator treated her with utmost respect, calling her Mama. I gave her a pair of eye glass cheaters with no arms, asked her to put the pair up to her eyes, look at a sign on the wall, and see if she could read it. She shook her head. No. We tried another pair. Better but not good. We keep going until she got to a pair that was pretty strong. She put them up to her face and the corners of her mouth spread into a big smile. In a universal language I clapped and we laughed a little. Now she can see.

And now we can see. What we take for granted in America, a pair of glasses, can transform one’s quality of life. You could say we gave away 130 pairs of glasses today. Or, you could say we improved the quality of life for 130 impoverished people today.