Random Quote:
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Bright Eyes
Confucius [may have] said:
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.
I sometimes see it translated as:
Wisdom is knowing how much you don’t know.
I was in elementary school when I got glasses for the first time. I was a little near-sighted. Until I put those glasses on I was completely ignorant of the fact that other people saw things that I could not see. Glasses made me aware of my ignorance. Glasses gave me knowledge, if not wisdom.
As I aged there were a few times when my eyesight deteriorated enough to require a new prescription. Usually these were slight changes and until I got the new prescription I wasn’t really aware that I needed it. I didn’t know how much I didn’t know.
Eventually, as for most people, even my near vision got worse. I found it paradoxical that when I was wearing my glasses I had to take them off to read, yet when I had my contacts in I needed reading glasses. But I knew that I was unable to see things that I used to be able to see. Even before I got a new prescription I knew how much I didn’t know.
Or did I? It occurred to me recently that when I have a new prescription I see as well as I ever have. But I find it easy to imagine that there are people that see better than I ever have or ever will. There is no way I can really know for sure. Is knowing what I can’t know the same as knowing what I don’t know? If so, does that mean that doubt is the same as wisdom?
Clearly, I can’t see the difference.
Posted on February 23rd, 2009 4 comments4 responses to “Bright Eyes”
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I’m always afraid that the optician is grinding the wrong lenses, since the scrip is based on my assumptions. “Which one is better? Worse? Better? Worse?” they ask over and over while they flip the lenses in front of you. I always doubt if I’m giving the right answers–who can honestly tell if the lens is the right one? What if you guess wrong under pressure? It;s like standing in line at a cafeteria with 1500 old people in line behind you and the woman in the hairnet asks you if you want tartar sauce and you freeze, because you don’t want to admit that you don’t even know what tartar sauce is, and you feel completely at a loss for basic words like “yes, please” or “no, please” or “what the hell am I doing in this cafeteria.” And that is how I feel at the eye doctor’s office, and now that I’ve written this novel I feel better, so thank you.
You’re welcome! ~Tim
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and now my head is spinning. but i will just try to clear things up by sharing this little tidbit…
i see said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.
That’s one of my favorite quotes! ~Tim
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I started wearing glasses in elementary school and then got hard contact lens in jr high to correct my astigmatism. It was so painful, I decided to forgo correcting the astigmatism and just settle for regular soft lenses. Two years ago, I decided to just get lasik. The best feeling in the world is to wake up and see w/o having to reach over for the glasses or lenses. I don’t think I’m any wiser, but damn, I can now see those speck of people hiking in the mountain trails!
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I also got lasik in 2002 and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I love not having to worry about glasses or contacts right now and my vision is still 20/20. Unfortunately, I’ll still need reading glasses in a few years, but I’m hoping that there will be surgeries for that by then.
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Publications
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Flash in the Pan free E-Chap on
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords - Valentia on Pow Fast Flash Fiction
- Reach on Vox Poetica
- Words on a Wire on Vox Poetica
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Goodreads
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my 'currently-reading' shelf:
