What We Take For Granted

No one in the U.S. is surprised to see people don their “readers.” It simply comes with the territory of aging. You start by holding things farther away and squinting a bit. Then finally giving into carrying or wearing that pair of glasses around. They can be lifesavers, as print seems to get smaller and smaller, details easier and easier to miss.But in much of the world people simply have to adjust to seeing poorly, women guessing at their stitch work, men straining to see the figures they are trying to balance. None of it is easy, but they accept the disability like they do most challenges in a world where necessities, by our standards, are luxuries by theirs.My travel-mate Sharron Reichle found 15 pair of readers for half price at Walgreens, and picked them up last minute thinking they might be useful to the Taru team. Useful? They flocked to them with glee. “I have needed these for a long time!” many of them said. “Cheaters,” they called them. I had forgotten that in the 11 years we’d been working together, many of them were now well past the stage where their eyes would change. The need for cheaters was extreme.They tried them all on, laughing; trying to find the ones that were the right strength. Then they proudly displayed them, with the tags firmly attached. They wore the visibly-tagged glasses with pride. Just as they leave the tags on new suits, they wanted to show that they had something that was NEW. New is a novelty in their world, where used goods, packaged in thrift stores in the West, are dropped by the highway ready to be sold for pennies.Everywhere you see the used t-shirts. Left over shirts from a marathon or family reunion. My favorite—a Kenyan girl wearing a shirt with a large photo of white grandparents, who I suppose ordered more than they needed for their grandchildren. And here they are, being displayed on the proud chest of a girl who can’t imagine who they are.Our Kenyan friends were just as pleased to have something new. We laughed at their refusal to take off the large tags. They each wanted to pose wearing their new treasures. The next morning it was still the same. Tags not removed. Those tags mean something! They mean good fortune came your way. They mean you are proud, because now you can do what you couldn’t do just the day before—read! Read what people in the West never think twice about being able to read, with bright, clear vision.