I heard on the news this morning that all the street vendors in Joburg would be geeting sunglasses as part of an awareness programme to promote protecting your eyes against thee harmful rays of the sun.
so I thought... yay!
wait... no...
Imagine buying newspaper from your local traffic light vendor and he comes up to you wearing sunglasses...
won't that just look weird??
Ok I understand that they are trying to create awareness around taking care of your eyes and stuff, but the whole sunglass wearing thing is not very popular among black people.
Black people see wearing sunglasses as making yourself look nice. Not so much about preventing getting your retinas burnt ultimately causing blindness and so on...
Anywayz... think of it, how many black people have you seen wearing shades at any given time compared to whites or any other races?? I'm sure there's at least 2 to every 20...
I'm not gonna lie and say I wear shades everytime I'm in the sun. Coz truth is, I don't. But at least I have a good reason why I don't. It's simply because I'm wearing spectacles most of the time. And I can't really see that well without them (I'm short-sighted) futher than 2-3 meters things start to get pretty blurry. Especially people's faces. Now how the hell am I supposed to find Ms Right-Now if i only notice her when she's a few feet away from me?? That's not really gonna improve my chances is it?? I didn't think so...
Funny enough, the thing about black people wearing shades to finish off a stunning outfit. Only exists within black people. More often than not. You find people (blacks) making a fuss about seeing another black person (male or female) wearing shades. They/we never see it simply as another human being taking care of their eyes...
I think black people concern themselves with useless things... coz one thing you'll start noticing is them asking what brand they are (the shades) and how much they cost and where they were bought. It's so frustrating sometimes...
If only this awareness programme went beyond the street vendors and into the corporate world. you'll be surprised how many people actually own a decent pair of sunglasses. Out of about 10 of us in my section only 2 of us actually have sunglasses. And neither of us wear them on our way to work/during lunch/after work. But rest asured, we make damn sure that we have them on as we're heading to the mall on Saturday...
Educate yourself black man!
Sunglasses were not designed for you to boast among your friends about what brand they are and how much they cost or to have something to put at the top of your head when you're at a party or indoors.
I'm out!
