Can you? Lots of people can do it. I am not one of them.
One day in sixth grade, I spent about fourteen hours just trying to curl my tongue. It was totally frustrating me that this apparently simple task was not something I could succeed at doing.
"You do it like this," my friends tried to show me. To no avail.
"I CAN'T DO IT! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" I said.
It has bothered me for years. Well, until the 1990's anyway. That's when I discovered that I had a 'cooler' talent than tongue-curling.
No, it's not acid washing jeans. No, it's not dancing the Macarena.
I discovered that I can figure out Magic Eye 3D animation.
It all started one innocent morning at my job. I was on break when our computer guy came running in with a large framed poster. He set it on a table in the breakroom against the wall.
"Can you see it!?" he asked, excitedly.
"Can I see what?" I responded, sipping my soda.
"The rocketship! Can you see it?" he was rubbing his hands together and kind of bouncing up and down. I hadn't seen Mark this excited since he'd gotten a new supply of floppy disks and a color computer monitor.
"What I see is a lot of weird designs," I said. I looked at the poster more closely.
"Focus on the center," he instructed.
"Okay," I said. And I stared at the center of the poster. My break was almost up but I was afraid that if I tried to leave, Mark would freak out on me. Suddenly, there it was! A rocketship! And not only a rocketship...but a 3D rocketship! How cool was that??!!!
"Well?" he asked, anxiously.
"I see it!' I cried out. And that was when Sandra walked into the breakroom. I grabbed her arm.
"Can you see it?" I asked, just as excited now as Mark. Both of us were bouncing now. "Can you see the rocketship?"
Sandra looked at each of us like we were crazy and looked at the poster. "I don't see any ship." She glanced at us again. "What is that goofy picture supposed to be?"
"It's a rocketship," Mark said. "It's right there!" I pointed at the picture.
"I don't see it!" Sandra said. And I tried to help her. "Look at the picture like you're looking through your car windshield. Look THROUGH the picture."
"Look through the picture?" she rolled her eyes at me. "Girl, you need a longer break." and she walked out the door.
Mark left the poster there in the breakroom and at lunchtime I was back...looking at the rocketship. Several people came in to see it. And two groups began forming. Those who could 'see in 3D'...and those who could not.
It began to get a little ugly at work.
"IT'S RIGHT THERE!" I said, trying to outline the ship for someone. "RIGHT THERE! CAN'T YOU SEE IT?"
"NO! I CAN'T, CARRIE! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
I was stunned. It was so simple! How could people not see the hidden image? What was wrong with them?
And that, my friends, is what is wrong with the world. Not that people can't figure out Magic Eye posters...but that I think there's something 'wrong' with them.
We all have different talents and abilities. We all have something that we are good at...like finding rocketships...and we all fall short in other areas. Like tongue-curling.
One ability is not better than another one. One talent does not make you more 'special' than having another talent. What's important to remember is that there is SOMETHING that you are good at doing. Focus on that.
Can you see it?
Don't spend too much time trying to curl your tongue. Or find a rocketship. And don't think you're better or worse because you can or can't do those things.
The world would be a boring place without 3D images and tongue tricks, wouldn't it?
Thanks for reading!
