Looking Through Varifocal Glasses

 

Well, it is official, I no longer can solely rely on normal reading glasses to read small print or operate a laptop. I now have to wear varifocals 24/7 – and they are a nightmare to get used to! Mrs C says I look very distinguished, my grandsons think I look funny, what’s more, very few in my immediate circle have seen fit to offer an opinion either way. As you can see from the image above, I have not splashed out on an expensive designer pair where the frames cost several times more than the lenses. I prefer a simple but practical pair without the expensive label, simple and practical, a bit like my good self.

 Having to adjust one’s eyeline when reading or when driving my car, I sometimes feel like a nodding dog struggling to find the best head/eye position to give me clarity of view. Too high or too low and my focus ends up like Mister Magoo’s, try following your nose said the technician at the opticians, not sure my dog will understand as she is the only one in this family who leads by the nose. Having said that, this perhaps could be the metaphor we need to describe how we should aim for a bit more clarity in how we view the world around us, rather than succumbing to the false nostalgia associated with that other old saying, about looking through certain types of coloured glasses.

 We may think our focus on certain issues is clear, almost 20:20 like. Yet if the past two years has taught us anything is that things are very rarely that clear; they sometimes become blurred or to use a favourite word from theological college days, more nuanced. Whatever field of human endeavour we undertake, there are some who remain and act cautiously i.e. mask wearing in indoor public places including our churches and places of worship, and there are those whose mantra is we need to get back to normal now we’ve all been jabbed, getting covid is like getting the flu etc, etc.

 A month ago, I wrote on how the season of lent is a time of reflection; a time to think and do less of what we were previously conditioned to think and do….As we approach the last couple of weeks before Holy Week and the agony of Good Friday and ecstasy of Easter Sunday, our varifocal lenses have certainly thrown up a few surprises. The people of Ukraine are fighting back against Russian aggression for all their worth, even pushing them back in certain places. Ukrainian farmers are doing a nice line in second hand Russian armour, and once again, the common decency and humanity among the peoples of Europe is on full display in offering aid and sanctuary for Ukrainian refugees – even if our own government drags its heels in demanding paperwork which may have been lost irrevocably.  

 Since restrictions have been eased the number of Covid cases and hospital admissions have shown a worrying rise that some commentators are talking about the possibility of re-imposing restrictions. I myself will be surprised if this happens but again like varifocal lenses, your clarity of vision largely depends on which direction you are looking. Same way for the cost of living increase foisted upon us from this month; gas, electric, National Insurance, Council Tax all going up along with fuel and certain food items over the past month. For us writers and other creative types, since we tend to be solitary creatures for the most part, we ought to be able to simply adjust our lenses and look for new fields of clear vision but of course life is never that simple.

 What impact these things will have on our writing and other projects going forward can be difficult to gauge, but it could mean we may have to adjust our view of how we see the world around us. Using the metaphor provided by viewing things through Varifocal glasses could be as good a place as any to start.