Why is it so hard to help someone see something differently?
“Woah! Now… I have to get myself one of those bad boys!” exclaimed the big burly man as he stroked his chin and looked longingly in the direction of a passing supersonic sports car. All around him oscillated the manic activity of a million voices and a symphony of sounds.
There were high tech delivery drones that buzzed angrily in every direction. Venders of every race and species screamed and shouted at the boisterous and rowdy crowds. The restless city was bathed by a continuous stream of neon lights that flared out from millions of holograms and plasma screen billboards.
As the gruff middle aged man stumbled into a dingy back-alley store, he was immediately confronted by an old shriveled man with wild wiry hair.
“What do you want?! Are you here for robotic reconstructive surgery, bio-mods, or are you interested in trying out my new experimental neural implants?”
“I don’t know what I need. I just have a hard time keeping credits in my wallet. Please help me, Doc”, moaned the defeated and tired man.
“Here try these on…” whispered the doctor as he procured a pair of glowing contact lenses from inside his sterile white lab coat.
The man wearily slipped them on and something strange happened. Thousands of glowing neon ads vanished from his vision when he left the shop. Only a small handful of neon signs were left. They all belonged to vendors who were selling the cheapest and most economical products.
As the man continued to wear these contact lenses throughout his life, he no longer struggled with the temptation of wanting to buy more expensive things.
But one day his daughter fell terribly ill. As he scoured over the menu of treatment options, he picked a few procedures he thought would help her survive. But regardless of what he chose, she ended up dying on the operating table that night. For the actual treatments she needed were too expensive. His precious contact lenses had blinded him from even seeing them on the page.
We all wear different types of lenses that help us see the world in a certain way. But if we ever forget to periodically take them off, they may accidentally blind us from making the best possible decisions in life.
