Would you like tacos with that?

April 30, 2006 on 1:41 am | In Blog |

contact.jpg

I still love sleep and I’m still at Mac Grill bar on Tuesdays (come see me!) but today we will discuss something else. Changing our appearance or enhancing things about our bodies. Science and medicine in the 20th century came a long way to a point of solid integrity in the eyes of almost everyone. But should preference alter what we were originally given? Should people color their hair? Should people get braces? Should people get tattoos or piercings? Should people who simply want a stronger lifestyle be allowed to use Prozac? Should people receive treatment for a terminal illness? Should people wear glasses or hearing aids? Should people go to the doctor for the flu? At what point do we say, “God made me this way and I am going to rejoice in it.” I just got contacts and I was wrestling with this for a long time. At what point are we over-medicated, over-aided, and over-analyzed? If God gave me a birth mark making a patch of my hair grey, am I morally obligated to not color it? If God gave me horrible, weak, and crooked teeth, am I morally obligated not to use braces? I want to hear your thoughts and stories.

I went on Thursday the 27th to get an eye exam for contacts. I’m going through a bunch of changes in my life and I figured it was good timing for this. The place I went was really great and the people made my visit wonderful. They now have this digital camera that can take a picture of your retina so no dilation is needed. It turns out that I have a small mole on one of my retinas! I was glad to hear that the prescription in my glasses from 2 years ago is still the same. They then put me in a room and said, “Alright, now put them in.” 20 minutes later I had put them in, taken them out, and put them back in. It was agonizing. But today I put them in first try on each eye.

At work last night I had them in and one of the Hispanic buddies asked where my “lentes” (glasses) were. I didn’t know the word for contact, so I used the word, “contactos.” He understood. The guy behind me then pointed out that I said “con tacos.” So I apparently didn’t wear glasses anymore, I used “with tacos.”

Later last night I was running around and without thinking about it, I rubbed my eyes. My right one suddenly felt really weird and everything blurred. I knew I hadn’t rubbed the contact out since when I moved my eye, it hurt. So about an hour and a half later when I left Mac, I looked and sure enough in the side of my eye socket was the contact folded in half. Somewhere between me rubbing and taking the contact out, I ripped it and had to get a new one today.

Today Sam had some tickets to the Rolex Three Day Event at the Ky Horsepark and took me, Mary Audrey, and Katie (MAP’s Georgetown friend). Because of horses and Rolex, SAM! told us to dress up a lot. So we rolled up in our suits and prom dresses only to find that there were about 20,000 other people there all dressed for the fair - because that’s what it really was: a horse fair. It started to drizzle and we got bored being out of place so we took our overdressed selves to Mac Grill for some good food. After that, I helped Sam out with his flat tire and went to work myself. If you are still reading this I know you are true friend and deserve to know this: when I arrived at Mac, one of the managers pulled me over and asked if I could help him do something. I then proceeded to put my name on the plaque in the store underneath “Employee of the Month.” For April of 2006, I received a wonderful gift.

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  1. Sweet! So there is a plaque somewhere in Mac Grill that says, “Employee of the Month: April 2006 - D-well?” :jester:

    Comment by SammyK — April 30, 2006 #

  2. Employee of the Month today, Tomorrow the World! As far as to what extent does science go in aiding us in improving our lives. Here’s what I think. God gave everyone great abilities. He gave me the ability to be a graphic artist. He gave Sam the ability to be an amazing programmer. God also gave Benjamin Franklin the knowledge, and skill to invent bifocals. He also gave modern doctors and scientist the ability to invent new medicines, and ways to improve our lives. I believe wearing glasses or contacts is acceptable; I couldn’t live without my contacts. Going to the doctor to receive a flu shot, fine. Coloring your hair, because you have a few gray ones, sure. Getting braces to fix nasty teeth, most definitely. However, deciding that you want your unborn child to be blond, with blue eyes, and a physique to match, that’s pushing it over the line.

    Comment by Frith — April 30, 2006 #

  3. Within reason you let science help out. Afterall God gave people the ability to come up with these discoveries.

    Comment by Todd — April 30, 2006 #

  4. He also gave us the capability for evil. “Everything is permissable. Not everything is beneficial.”

    Comment by Daniel — May 1, 2006 #

  5. Even when you were just a wee lad and would watch the temp channel change, Dad and I knew there was greatness to be developed - keep up the good work…

    I know you are a fine employee - I am glad that Mac’s mgmt. team recognized you for it!

    Be patient with the contacts… keep your hands off your eyes and don’t EVER sleep in them!!!! much love, Mom ;)

    Comment by Mom — May 1, 2006 #

  6. Daniel,

    So cool how they told you that you were “employee of the month.”

    Take care,
    Love,
    Dad
    (Colossians 3:17)

    Comment by Dad-well — May 1, 2006 #

  7. EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH!!!!! way to go champ.

    Comment by Heather — May 1, 2006 #

  8. those are such intriguing questions… mm.. i might procrastinate the entire night thinking about them. i think you’ve gotta consider your motives in doing all those things. a lot of them seem to make life more comfortable, without impeding one’s relationship with god. or they make a person more expressive, like the tattoos, hair coloring, and piercings, without messing your relationship with god. when those define who you are, make you think you’re more glorifying to others or to god, or they’re more important than god (say you were willing to deny god’s existence in order to get a flu vaccine…), then i think there’s a real problem (thus i think plastic surgery is not good, b/c to me that’s not usually about anything but conformity to the world’s standards of beauty… but again then there are people who get it b/c they had accidents or burns or this or that… hm…) i guess they have to be case-by-case considerations, that only the person in the situation can really know the answer to. prayerful considerations. good questions stillwell, what intellectual/spiritual stimulation!

    Comment by ditta — May 1, 2006 #

  9. In light of such a thoughtful comment, I must say that tonight was the first night that I guenuinely thought, ” I can see.” I didn’t feel dependent upon glasses and my eyes worked as they should. But does that take away from the simple reminder everytime I open my eyes that I’m dependent upon God for my sight? Do my contacts bring me one step closer to actualizing the world’s definition of sight? God made me as I am and even Jacob walked with a limp for his whole life after wrestling with the Lord. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. If I find fulfillment in contacts that I could not find in Jesus, then glory goes to one other than He who deserves it. I was going to get a tattoo in the middle of my back when I could bench 250 lbs. I never got there and don’t know what I would have tattooed. But would that have been for HIS glory, or mine? These are tough questions indeed.

    Comment by Daniel — May 2, 2006 #

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