It was years before I realized wearing eyes glasses was not such a bad thing after all. I always believed I entered this world, straight from the womb wearing eyeglasses. Actually, I was four years old when I received my first pair. I remember my Mother taking me to the eye doctor who after examining me told me I had astigmatism a word that had no meaning to a four-year-old.

The Doctor, Dr Schwartz was his name, informed me my condition meant I had a pear-shaped eyeball that didn’t allow the light to enter my eye through the right angle which resulted in bad vision. I thought to myself, what in the world is a pear eyeball? Did this mean I would have better vision if I had an apple, orange or even a banana as an eyeball? He also told me I was myopic. Wait, I thought I was Irish.

 

Back in the good ole days, there were not many options for eyeglasses. Contact lenses were not an option since they had invented, nor were bi-focal or tri-focal. The lenses they gave me were at least a half-inch thick. I was certain they came from the bottom of actual milk bottles.

I hated those glasses; they were heavy, slid down my nose, hurt my ears and made me look like a creature from outer space. When other looked at me while I was wearing these horrible thick lenses, my eyes looked like two BBs. This is the nickname my siblings called me, clearly not an endearing reference.

 

The only useful purpose for my glasses was to go to the backyard, hold them at an angle to the sun and ignite leaves, dry grass and small pieces of paper. I knew with that procedure I held the power to cremate ants. However I just couldn’t find in in my heart to hurt these tiny little creatures, they never did anything to me.

I refused to wear those ugly glasses. I always tried to hide them as best as I could, but somehow my Mother always found them and made me put them back on I quickly learned it was smart wear them when mom was around. 

Wearing them out on the street was a different story. Those glassed went quickly into my pocket. I suspect this was a form of self-defense against the bullies.

What I hated most about wearing glasses were the bullies in the Neighborhood. They especially loved those off us wearing eyeglass so they could pick on us. I guess the bullies thought if we could not see them, we could not fight back.

 

At school, I sat in the front row however since my glasses were shoved in my pocket, and could not see the blackboard. They say we learn from seeing, hearing and writing. Not being able to see I suppose this is where I developed my learning style, listening.  

Unfortunately, for me, the biggest event in our neighborhoodback then for young boy was Little League Baseball. I played right field for the Braves. Nevertheless, playing baseball without vison was a total disaster. What I thought were fly balls, actually turned out to be sparrows.

I was ten years old when the premier event of wearing my glasses took place. The neighborhood bully, Soupy Campbell, cornered me in the schoolyard. Soupy was not his real name, probably Archibald, or even better some girls name, Whatever his name was, everyone Soupy. This guy was a big redheaded Irish kid, four years older and twice my size! He always startedtaunting me with the usual insults, “Four Eyes” “Braille Boy” “Where’s your dog?” With each insult, my heart would beat faster and then adrenalin began erupting like a volcano. My flight or fight mechanism switched on. I knew I could not out run him. I concluded my best option was to strike first. Without hesitation, I doubled up my fist and swung as hard as I could and I hit the target, busting Soup’s nose. The blood gushed down his face, all over his shirt and all over the ground. Soupy just stood there, holding his nose, in shock at the sight of his own blood. My voice was calm as I told him as he slowly walked away in disbelief “if he ever insulted me again, you will get more of the the same”. 

My classmates gathered around watching with huge eyes,witnessing what they thought would be my slaughter. However, they were shocked and amazed, as I was, at the outcome! The news of my victory spread faster than a burning fire of wood. As I walked back to class I could hear different versions of the story. You know when a story is told and re-told, then you hear it and you think to yourself, that is not at all what happened? My story of victory became a distorted legend. And the best part, they all started treating me like some kind of hero.

The next day at school there was a crowd of my classmatesdivided into two groups. One group was telling the distorted story that Soupy was in the Intensive Care Unit at Sisters of Mercy Hospital with a prognosis of if he would make it or not. The second group was telling the tale of Soupy ice cold on a slab at the County Morgue.

Then the emotions of my overnight fame began to change, had I become the school hero or just another bully like Soupy? I guess the good news was the girls on the cheerleading squad, who never took one look at me, now were becoming my best friends. This included all the jocks on the football

Team. Overnight, I became popular. Karen, a cute blonde-haired girl, who could actually stop my heart

When I looked at her, came up to talk to me. Before today she would not spit on me if my guts were on fire, however now she was smiling and saying “Hello” when we passed in the hall. I was an American hero!

 I guess with good news, and then comes the bad news.  My overnight fame of victory over the school bully had every want to-be-tough guy wanting to win victory over me!

 The last bell rang, so I started down the stairs to the street. Waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs was Soupy. Well crap,I thought to myself, you are supposed to be at Sisters of Mercy Hospital. I was taken back at the sight of Soupy standing there and as I looked around a crowd was gathering again hoping to witness yet another victory, I saw Karen gazing at me as if I were her new hero. Even though I knew this might just be my last day on earth, there was no way I could let Karen down, so running was not an option. 

I had no time to decide on my next move and I did not want disappoint my new girl. Therefore, I walked right up to Soupy and boldly said, “You back for some more?” Soupy looked down at me and said,

“Kid you got guts and I respect that”. I was shcoked; thinking to myself does this mean

He is not going to kill me today. My check puffed up as the confidence I survived death ran through my mind.  I was going to live!  I said “You aint mad at me?” “Mad, you did me a big favor” Soupy replied. Confused, I asked, “What favor?” Soupy, kind of laughing, with a smirk on his face said “You know I have a big rep around here and people want a piece of me 24/7. Now they will want a piece of you. You took the pressure off me of always fighting, so why would I be mad at you?” As he was walking away and quitting laughing he turned to me and said “Good luck, your gonna need it kid”. 

 As he walked away, I looked up and realized the crowd gathered around watching to see if I would remain their new school hero. Karen still had that hero gaze on her face. With those looks, I figure they had their victory, even without a fight. 

  There was other tough guys in the school besides Soupy. There was Erick Johansen the linebacker of the football team, aka, Swede. Word had it he was going to try to take me on. He wasway bigger than me, lifted weights and was an animal on the football field.  One day when lunch was over, we had about ten minutes before the bell rang, I decided to head out to the schoolyard. Wouldn’t you know, there stood Swede, surrounded by five or six of his very large teammates?

I panicked for just a minute thinking to myself “this just might be the day I die”. Quickly, I puffed up, holding on to the memory of my confidence, all while thinking to myself I might as well get this over and face death in the eyes.  Besides, with only a few minutes left before the lunch bell rang, how bad could it be? I walked up to Swede and boldly said, “I hear you want a piece of me?” The look of shock on his face was priceless; I guess I caught him off guard. “I don’t know where you heard that, but I have nothing against you” he replied to me.  My confidence mixed with a little anger gave me more confidence. I turned to the others and said in a very assertive manner “Anyone else want a piece of me?” The look on my classmates’ faces said no. 

 I looked over at Blackie who just happens to be another total punk He is one we all knew never fought without the help of his gang. I stared directly into his eyes “How about you Blackie you want a piece of me?” Before he could answer, the football coach sensed something was going down, said while walking over to us “Anything wrong here?” “Nope, nothing wrong here coach,we were just talking about the weather, right Swede?” Swede just happened to be standing next to me. I answered as I stood up to show some respect as my momma always taught me to do“That’s right coach, we just talking about the weather” Swede replied as he moved his shook his head to agree. 

 The bell rang and we all started back to class. One of my buddy’s on the football team informed me Coach told Swedeafter the school yard incident, if any news of Swede getting into a fight with me or anyone else get back to him, he’s off the team and any chances of getting a football scholarship for college went down the drain.

 This information was good news to me; it took Soupy off the list of bully’s I would have to win victory over on the schoolyard. The best part was, even though I knew why he backed off and stopped bullying me,  my classmates believed Swede bowed down to the new hero of the school. I was able to hold my title as the hero and was able to stop hiding the eyeglasses I once hated and start wearing them with pride. 

As the years passed, I didn’t hate wearing eyeglasses anymore.  Each pair got better, and by graduation, I actually owned a pair that made me look much more intelligent then I actually was. Shortly after I received my MBA, I started wearing contact lenses. And, once I landed a job, maybe after my second or third promotion, I had Lasik surgery which opened my eyes to an entire new world of vision. But the funny thing is, as much as I hated those glasses,  I keep a pair with neutral lenses with me. They always give me the confidence and courage needed to get through a tough business meeting or an angry employee, or any threatening situation. All I do is look down at my neutral pair of glasses and   remember the confidence and respect I had to fight for, back at that schoolyard so many years ago. 

As I look back now, I truly believe my poor vision helped shaped me into the man I am today. If it were not for those thick ugly glasses that made me look like I had BB eyes, I would never have the courage to stand up to the bully’s in my life today. 

Me and My Eyeglasses back in 1950 something -Bob Evans