To see things in a correct perspective and light you need a good pair or eyes to begin with (this is my eye in a selfie). It is not always rimmed in red, but probably I had just recovered from a golden oldie sleep moment. Afterwards it is ideal that what you look at is clear.

I am writing this from the point of view of a European. This thought often crosses my mind if I buy a new gadget, or my doctor perscribes new tablets, the first thing we do at home, after removing whatever it is from the packaging is to read what it is all about. This should be an easy task, but why easy when it can be complicated. The first step is to find the correct language. Of course it is easy to ignore the Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Arabic letters. Most of us are not so prolific in these languages, so just hide that part, or if the languages are in separate booklets, which is the ideal solution, just throw it.

Lately I have been organising my operating instructions for various appliances and noticed that half of the papers I had were in a language I did not even recognise. The next step is to eliminate the languages that you can read, but not understand. Finnish, Hungarian and all other scandianavian languages fall under this category. My mother tongue is english and this is what I am looking for. I can manage with a few other European languages, but if I can avoid them, I am happy. Of couse, this is all in the name of clarity. At last I have the bare bones, english and have reduced to leaflet selections considerably.

Medicine is a different kettle of fish. Doctors never really learn to write as other people. If you have received hand written perscriptions from them they are illegible. At the surgery everything is clear, but at home things are no longer so clear. Did he write 3 times one tablet after meals, or is it just 1 tablet in the morning, the directions seem to disappear into a line with bumps, but the doctor is a learned man, although he might tend to confuse latin with his basic language often.

There is also a problem with age. Either you have to hold the paper you want to read at arms length, or under your nose for clarification.

“Can you read this, it is one blur for me.”

“Of course, no problem. Err, well it is not so clear, here is a magnifying glass.”

This is a conversation that Mr. Swiss and I often have. I am short sighted and he is long sighted. We cannot even borrow each others glasses.

At the moment Mr. Swiss is reading a real book. It has real pages that you can turn and real bindings, not a paper back. He is not one of those people that likes to have the smell and feel of a book when reading, he just want to read and not make a chemical analysis. The book is not avaialble in  Kindle form. He had to order the book from Amazon in America as it was not available in Europe. Mr. Swiss is a sort of Dr. Jazz and has his favourites. He only waited a few days and the book already arrived, The Long Shadow of the Little Giant, about the english super saxophonist/ vibes player Tubby Hayes. I must admit I am also partial to Tubby Hayes, especially if he is accompanied by Ronnie Scott on the recording. Mr. Swiss now has a problem. He is not longer used to a print that he cannot alter in size or quality, even illuminate with a back light. He now has a real book and it is in english, although he has no great problem with the language. If we did not understand each other in a conversation, we would not have been together for so many years, although our main house language is Swiss German and we like to have clear conversation where we can understand what we are talking about.

Now and again I also have problems with computer instructions. Apple seem to talk a different language to Microsoft and WordPress have yet again another language. The forest often has too many trees.

I could continue and analyse the speech of politicians, what they promise and what they they really mean. However, these clarificiations have never been defined exactly because they seem to change in meaning daily, if not by the hour.

I wonder if anyone can clarify this photo, taken by me.

Daily Prompt: Clarity