Un-Model Essay 2008: Xiao Ming Has To Wear Glasses

Xiao Ming was a handsome boy. Unfortunately, he was rather vain too. He spent hours looking at himself in the mirror and complimenting himself on his good looks. One day, he played the part of a bespectacled boy in a school play. As the audience filed out of the auditorium, he overheard a snatch of conversation: “my, but didn’t that boy look good in glasses..”

Xiao Ming swelled with pride. From that day onwards, he did his best to spoil his eyesight. He did his homework in dimly-lit conditions, he lay down on the bed to read, he sat very close to the television while watching cartoons, and spent the afternoons playing computer games instead of playing football like he used to. At first, his mother gently admonished him, but her advice fell on deaf ears. After that, like so many mothers today, she merely shrugged her shoulders and said, “What can I do? He doesn’t want to listen.” And left it at that.

Not surprisingly, Xiao Ming’s vision deteriorated. Soon he couldn’t see more than a few metres ahead and had to copy from his neighbour as he couldn’t see the writing on the blackboard. When he walked into the door by accident one day, his mother hurried him to the optician. There, Xiao Ming was fitted with glasses that had a power of 1000 for both eyes. His mother then moaned that glasses nowadays were so expensive.

The next day, Xiao Ming wore his glasses proudly to school. It was quite nice to be able to see where he was going for a change. He took out his pencil sharpener a dozen times a day so he could look at himself on the mirror attached to it. After school, he made a detour to the photo shop to have his photo taken as a commemoration of this great occasion.

Much to his chagrin however, nobody complimented him on his new look. His mother merely said several times a week, “I told you so many times but you never listened. Now I have to spend so much money on glasses for you.” His father said, “Oh, are you wearing glasses nowadays?” then rushed off to work. His classmates said, “Wow, your glasses are so thick! You’ve really spoilt your eyes, haven’t you!”

As the novelty wore off, Xiao Ming began to find his glasses a cumbersome liability. He regretted his foolishness in spoiling his eyes. He resolved never to behave so rashly again and set about finding books on eyesight improvement.