i was walking out of a chinese restaurant, looking at
calendars with pictures of attractive young asian
women. i noticed that of course, their eyes had
been surgically 'fixed', i read once that this eye
surgery is the most commonly performed surgery in the
world though i have not researched it enough to really
support that. i have always disapproved of this
surgery and been sort of disgusted by the whole
idea--essentially of people trying to look more
western. but tonight i realized that this is the same
culture that until pretty recently in history,
practiced foot-binding. surely this eye surgery is
not as damaging or as disabling or as
health-compromising as foot-binding. now i see the
eye surgery as better, progress, an improvement: it
is no longer a horrible thing to me, it is a lesser evil.