Tunnel Vision

It was never intentional, but at some point years ago I started developing tunnel vision. In stores I would focus on what I was looking for and not gaze around the shelves and displays. When a friend would show me a great new item, like 2-gallon Ziploc bags, I'd get all excited and ask where they found such a wonder. Their rather dry response was, "In the grocery store." Oh. The same thing happened with ads in the newspaper. Obviously this is an old memory, since I can't remember when we last had a newspaper in the house. Anyway, my husband would mention a new restaurant or movie and I'd want to know where he heard about it. He'd say, "It's been in the paper all week." Oh. But I had learned to train my eyes on the information in the columns, skimming for the news and not wasting time on extras. The last step in my development of tunnel vision, when I started consciously not letting my eyes roam, came about 15 years ago. The banner ads that came with emails weren't as sophisticated as they are today. I didn't get actual email ads. The information was printed along the top and sides of the inbox. One day a friend emailed me about her nephew, who had been born with undistended testicles, asking me to pray about his upcoming surgery. The next time I was at the computer, there was a long yellow box above the emails that read: "Painless cattle castrators, $179.99." It was hard to resist.