Too much coffee mixed with a powerful movie on the transience of life ( Benjamin Button) caused me to stay awake all night last night. In the middle of these episodes of insomnia, I often despair about growing old and useless. This morning's light brings to me a story in the paper on Joshua Silver, a grey beared physicist, who has invented a way to bring affordable prescription grade eye glasses to the poor around the world. By self-injecting small amounts of silicon into the lenses, these glasses can be adjusted by the wearer. Wow! Hundreds of thousands of these have already been distributed worldwide. The US military have bought thousands to give away in Africa. His business, Adaptive Eye-care is selling these glasses at about $19.
Whenever I get down- like last night- something like this comes along to remind me that one is never too old to make a difference in the world. Maybe I am biased but I also believe the creative mind, put to work for good, is the antidote for many late night despairs. Except for opthomologists, billions more worldwide will live (and sleep) better because Joshua Silver believed an idea could make the a better place.
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