On Vision
I recently noticed a new trend. Or maybe it wasn’t a trend but rather me paying attention to something I’d never noticed before. Maybe the trend really began with me repeatedly logging a certain pattern and then filing it with the other detritus that makes up my memory.
What exactly is a trend? Is it an actual common movement in one direction, or does it rest in the realm of perception?
Popular culture magazines often feature a section that displays several photographs of celebrities wearing the same colour/hairstyle/skirt length/expensive lizard cowboy boots, declaring it as the latest 'in'. This suggests that you could similarly go out into a large crowd, snap photos of five people who happen to be choking on hotdogs, then claim it as a trend. To me, it seems to be treading the borderline of epidemiological study. If anything, it does reflects a certain near-sightedness.
Anyway, it’s all finally about demographics. What I recently noticed was that people around me were wearing their reading glasses as hair ornaments. I first became aware of this six months ago. It then snowballed until I believed that walking around with glasses perched on top of the head must be a new trend. And it does lend a certain air of panache and knowingness to the wearer.
It wasn’t until this week that I threw in the ageing factor. This is no trend, I realized. In hindsight I could see that it was the remaining 20/20 vision types in my age group who were getting older and requiring glasses.
Was I disappointed by this revelation—this reminder of encroaching seniority? Not at all. I now have a shiny new pair of glasses to sport on top of my own head. Sometimes I actually use them to read. Most times I just look… knowing.
What exactly is a trend? Is it an actual common movement in one direction, or does it rest in the realm of perception?
Popular culture magazines often feature a section that displays several photographs of celebrities wearing the same colour/hairstyle/skirt length/expensive lizard cowboy boots, declaring it as the latest 'in'. This suggests that you could similarly go out into a large crowd, snap photos of five people who happen to be choking on hotdogs, then claim it as a trend. To me, it seems to be treading the borderline of epidemiological study. If anything, it does reflects a certain near-sightedness.
Anyway, it’s all finally about demographics. What I recently noticed was that people around me were wearing their reading glasses as hair ornaments. I first became aware of this six months ago. It then snowballed until I believed that walking around with glasses perched on top of the head must be a new trend. And it does lend a certain air of panache and knowingness to the wearer.
It wasn’t until this week that I threw in the ageing factor. This is no trend, I realized. In hindsight I could see that it was the remaining 20/20 vision types in my age group who were getting older and requiring glasses.
Was I disappointed by this revelation—this reminder of encroaching seniority? Not at all. I now have a shiny new pair of glasses to sport on top of my own head. Sometimes I actually use them to read. Most times I just look… knowing.
posted by Joconde at 9:08 PM
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