Contact Lenses

This morning while I was waiting for the jeepney going to my workplace, I saw a woman approaching. I knew the woman. She is one of the mothers in the neighborhood. She and her family lived a very simple life. Well, almost all of the people in our locality live a very simple life. People would only think of their everyday meal.
In the morning they will sip a cup of coffee in their courtyard. The fathers will feed the chickens and the mothers will cook the family’s morning meal. The morning meal is usually eaten between eight and ten in the morning. Because they don’t have superiors to remember, they would just follow their own orders.

After lunch, they will take a mid afternoon nap. They will gather the chicken in pens. Then they will wait for the evening news. But the evening news won’t make them excite. The drama series will make their night more meaningful. They will spend the whole night watching and shed tears for the unrealistic overly acted drama series. But that will end up their day satisfied.

How funny it is to see how dull their life is. How stressful it is to see them doing nothing to improve their social status in life. How sad it is to think that the stories they see on the television series are their only escape from life’s misery.
The woman I saw came closer to me and she told me, “You look like a foreigner.” I smiled and make a shrug of shoulders. Then she added, “ You look better than the last time I saw you. In fact you look better and better every time I see you. ” I was flattered by the statements. But I need to ask her why. Then she explains to me in a question, “Why is the color of your eyes different from us? Is that really the color of your eyes?” then I answered her laughing, “No. I’m actually wearing contact lenses.”

Then she replied in an astonishing voice, “Contact lenses? What s that and what is that for?” Ashamed, I told her, “For some its just fashion. In my case, its for me to be able to see clearly.” Then she asked me how do I put in those contact lenses in my eyes.

I didn’t know what and how did I answered her question. But there is one thing that stuck in my mind. That is the statement, how pity these woman is. She lives backwardly in the midst of the contemporary technology.