Hiding

Today is the first day of my wearing of contact lenses. My eyes have not adjusted to them, thus most things I look at are blurry to various extent. I decided that I no longer wanted to wear eyeglasses after 30 some odd years of wearing them. It's a part of my evolution as a human. I have not had a haircut in three years and thus have a ponytail down my back. I wanted to see what I looked like with a pony tail and it really isn't too bad. I decided I no longer wanted to shave, so I grew a gray beard. It is neat and close to my face, not one of those bushy type beards you sometimes see from men from the North Pole. Then I decided to cut the glasses. Some people wear glasses to "soften" their faces. That is what I was told by the first Optician that fitted me with glasses back in the 1970"s. My face needed to be softened, whatever that means. Well, no more, my face is now going to be in its full hard glory! No more softening for me! I've softened through my various careers and now intend to be myself.

Some people wear eyeglasses as a fashion statement. I've never thought of eyeglasses as a fashion statement, but I suppose the young generation do. They even wear "fashion eyeglasses" with just glass lenses without corrective lenses. That seems to me to be a bit desperate for attention. People do what people do, I guess.

Then there are people like my 83 year old father. They wear glasses only because they have to. Their generation never thought of them as "fashion statements" or to "soften" their faces, they wore them to see. Every few years he would go to the ophthalmologist to get his eyes checked and get a stronger pair of lenses. That is simply what glasses were needed for; to help you to see.

A final group of people wear glasses in order to "hide". Some people may be shy, or timid, or have phobias and they use their glasses to hide behind. Like the people who wear sunglasses all the time, indoors and outdoors. It makes them feel safe. It may make them feel a little important but I think it is mainly to feel safe. By wearing glasses there is an barrier between your eyes and the other persons eyes. The eyes open to the soul, and people who know how to read the eyes can see into others souls and know what type of person they truly are. They will know the person; not the person we try to project. I know at times in my life I felt confident that my eyeglasses were on to protect me from someone who seemed more in tuned to life. I felt it helped hide me. So I think many people use glasses for hiding from others. They may be insecure, may have hurt someone and are afraid others might find out if you see into their souls. It is in my opinion an act of survival for some of these people with eyeglasses.

Former Secretary of State Marilyn Albright has written a book entitled "Read my Pins", in which she wears lapel pins based on her mood, what her dominant personality that day is, or what she hopes to accomplish that day. I think some people wear eyeglasses the same way. They wear different ones for different moods, what they are trying to express on a subconscious level. It is a sense of hiding. I don't like hiding. I refuse to hide. If I am mad at someone I should let that person know. If I am distrustful of someone, why hide it. Be yourself. Put yourself out there and read the world and be read. It will help make you a more honest person.

Some might say, my growing a beard is in a sense of hiding, but it is not. I am not hiding my eyes...come look into my soul...tell me what you see. Growing a beard is simply me being me. In my life I have had a beard four times: once in College before graduating, again after I got out of the Navy (my wedding pictures have me with a beard), third, when I quit my corporate career, I celebrated by growing a beard, and now this one. So it is actually a part of my growth in life. I feel myself growing after six years of severe head trauma stagnation, and I think I'm coming out and thus want to let my beard come out also.

It's funny what little things can tell about a person.