I have always been near-sighted, and for most of my life was very good at close work. But then, as predicted by my eye doctor, I began to lose the ability to focus close-up and now have to resort to using my magnifying visor in order to read the phone book. But my long distance sight is still very poor, so I only have sort of a middle area of about 8 inches away from my face that I can see quite well without glasses now. But, when I was younger, and only myopic, I attempted to donate my used prescription eye glasses to New Eyes for the Needy and noticed that there was a certain lack of enthusiasm on their part. They confided in me that the preferred donation was "reading glasses" as from the drugstore. The reason for this was that in the Third World poor people don't drive cars very much so they don't need glasses for long distance sight. Instead they desperately need "reading glasses" in order to make a living, doing things with their hands, for instance. I was somewhat surprised by this because I had always thought that people in the Third World with poor distance vision might be in danger from large predatory animals. I thought that was a rather stunning revelation. Being as myopic as I am does not appear to be a problem in the third world worth correcting, whereas here it is major. But in the third world you really need your close vision. I suppose 17th century Europe was like today's Third World. Devon
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