They have a name for it
In the previous post, I failed to mention one of the significant bits of news of the last month or so. Towards the end of last year, I sensed that something had changed with my eyesight. I suspected I needed to change my glasses, which I had had for over a year, but the ophthalmologist said my prescription was still good. So why don't I see well?
I mentioned to him about a "floater" in my right eye that appeared about that time, one large enough that when it stops right in my line of vision, I have difficulty focusing and it casts a shadow over what I'm trying to see. Nothing to be done about that, he said, "you'll just have to learn to live with it."
But after noting continued difficulty in seeing, especially one afternoon when I was driving in Italy, I decided to go back to the eye doctor. In the meantime I discovered that with or without glasses, there was no way I could focus clearly with my left eye and read normal-size text on the computer screen or in the Bible. This time the doctor did another type of test and explained my problem: macular pucker. When I look at a grid with my left eye, a checker board, for example, the lines are distorted. If I use only my left eye, lines of text look like they're floating on the waves of the sea. In extreme cases there is a solution: the macula, a film covering the retina, is removed from the back of the eye. Sooner or later I will have to have that operation, he says.
Like the floater in the right eye, there's no explanation why it happens; there's nothing to do to prevent it; nothing to do to keep it from getting worse, or to make it better. It just is. I don't see any better after going to the doctor about my condition, but I can take some sort of consolation in knowing they have a name for it.
I thought of a memorial service I attended the week after the 9/11 attack in the US. As consular agent, I was invited to the Cathedral, where the Catholic bishop, Anglican priest, Lutheran lay leader, and Presbyterian pastor spoke of the horror that had just taken place, giving their explanations for why such things happen, and what needs to be done to keep them from happening in the future.
The key words were "social injustice", "developed world vs. underdeveloped countries", "north vs. south", "unequal distribution of wealth", etc., etc. Like my trying to deal with an obvious problem with my eyesight, they were wrestling with the obvious problem of terrorism, but they never got around to describing the root cause of the problem by using the correct word. Just as the doctor told me the name of my problem, the Bible has a name for the condition the world is in...the one word none of the four religious leaders uttered that night: sin. Yes, the Bible has a name for it. And it has a solution, too! That's the good news.
I mentioned to him about a "floater" in my right eye that appeared about that time, one large enough that when it stops right in my line of vision, I have difficulty focusing and it casts a shadow over what I'm trying to see. Nothing to be done about that, he said, "you'll just have to learn to live with it."
But after noting continued difficulty in seeing, especially one afternoon when I was driving in Italy, I decided to go back to the eye doctor. In the meantime I discovered that with or without glasses, there was no way I could focus clearly with my left eye and read normal-size text on the computer screen or in the Bible. This time the doctor did another type of test and explained my problem: macular pucker. When I look at a grid with my left eye, a checker board, for example, the lines are distorted. If I use only my left eye, lines of text look like they're floating on the waves of the sea. In extreme cases there is a solution: the macula, a film covering the retina, is removed from the back of the eye. Sooner or later I will have to have that operation, he says.
Like the floater in the right eye, there's no explanation why it happens; there's nothing to do to prevent it; nothing to do to keep it from getting worse, or to make it better. It just is. I don't see any better after going to the doctor about my condition, but I can take some sort of consolation in knowing they have a name for it.
I thought of a memorial service I attended the week after the 9/11 attack in the US. As consular agent, I was invited to the Cathedral, where the Catholic bishop, Anglican priest, Lutheran lay leader, and Presbyterian pastor spoke of the horror that had just taken place, giving their explanations for why such things happen, and what needs to be done to keep them from happening in the future.
The key words were "social injustice", "developed world vs. underdeveloped countries", "north vs. south", "unequal distribution of wealth", etc., etc. Like my trying to deal with an obvious problem with my eyesight, they were wrestling with the obvious problem of terrorism, but they never got around to describing the root cause of the problem by using the correct word. Just as the doctor told me the name of my problem, the Bible has a name for the condition the world is in...the one word none of the four religious leaders uttered that night: sin. Yes, the Bible has a name for it. And it has a solution, too! That's the good news.
posted by EP | 12:53 AM | Permalink
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home