Legally Blind

# Legally Blind

Dear Friend and Subscriber,

Dr. Larry Patterson, possibly
the best eye surgeon in America, looked up from his instrument
and said...

"Gary, It's Official. You

Are Legally Blind!"

His words were no surprise.
My vision had been troublesome all my life and, during
the last year, had gotten exponentially worse. One eye
was nearsighted, one eye was farsighted, both had astigmatism,
both were scarred from sloppy radial keratotomy surgery
and both eyes had cataracts obstructing my vision.

It was increasingly difficult
to navigate my life. Where a normal person would see two
headlights coming from a car at night, I would see perhaps
eighteen. I couldn't read my computer with my nose against
the screen. I couldn't recognize my youngest son's face
from across a small room in San Diego. Couldn't read a
book, couldn't watch a movie and couldn't even enjoy pornography
unless they would start producing it in brail.

For much of last year I've
been traveling with a seeing-eye Jew from Brooklyn, Sam
Markowitz. I've been teaching him to write world class-copy
(boy he's good!) and he's been helping me cross streets
like a little old lady and making sure I use the men's
room instead of the ladies.