I was 28 years old, the age when most young people have their eyes firmly fixed on the promise of success but I was a failure. Six years earlier, fresh from college, I had joined a dramatic producing company, and had been going into small towns and rural communities producing country­style musical comedies. But, in the summer of 1940, the country was in a depression, radio had changed people’s tastes, and part­time shows weren’t all that big any more. So, jobless and with nothing else in sight, I went back home. Later I got a job as a recreation­room director in my hometown. It paid $50 a month, for which I was grateful, but it sure was a dull job.

I felt so frustrated with my plan to be a dramatic star. Restless and dissatisfied though I was, it was nice, in a way, to be back home. I tried to teach some of my town’s children music and drama. And when I got a chance, I’d try my luck as a performer myself. I’d dress up as a country girl and tell little stories and jokes that I’d picked up during my years living around country folk. I gave this country girl a name — Minnie Pearl.

One October afternoon I was in the recreation room, waiting for the children when a banker friend, Jim Walker, came in and said, “We’re going to have a bankers’ meeting here. I understand you’ve been teaching some children dramatics and dancing and singing. Would you let the children entertain the bankers?” I said, yes. Suddenly, he turned and added, “Oh, by the way, the speaker from Chicago is flying here. If he’s late, would you mind doing that Minnie Pearl thing?” I told Jim I’d do it.

That night the children sang and danced to old­time, popular songs when I was backstage. After we finished the performance, Jim came to me. “The speaker’s not here yet. You’ll have to help us.” “All right,” I told him, “just give me a minute to dress up.”

Then I went out in front of the hundred or so men in the audience.

Then I walked off the stage into the audience, and a banker greeted me.

Yours,

Li Hua

These days there is so much tempting technology to look at: smartphones, tablets, computer games and TV screens. Much of our children’s entertainment and education comes from using them, so it’s no wonder that children spend so much time staring at them. But even if the saying that looking at a screen for too long gives them square eyes isn’t true, there is still some concern that it can affect their eyesight.

So, should we be worried? Certainly for children who spend hours glued to a screen there is a concern that their health might be at risk, and their eyesight is worsening too. Although there’s not much evidence to prove this yet, recent findings have opened our eyes to the issue.

Chris Hammond, consultant ophthalmic（眼科的）surgeon at St Thomas’ Hospital, says, “We know that short-sightedness is becoming more common. It has spread greatly in East Asia, Singapore, South Korea, where about 90% of 18-year-olds are now short-sighted.” Annegret, expert at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London says lack of natural light seems to be the key issue. She’s suggested that children in East Asia study a lot, using computers, smartphones or tablets, and they go outside less, which could be a cause of short-sightedness and an increase in their weight. Wearing glasses is one solution, but it’s not ideal（理想的）.

This leads to a dilemma: achieving short-term academic success or protecting your long-term eyesight. It’s always going to be a challenge to drag children away from their screens and it’s likely that more and more studying will be done online, through a screen.

But despite that, Professor Hammond says, “In countries like urban China, where 10% of children in each class per year are becoming short-sighted from about the age of six, there’s an argument for saying we should be trying to prevent it.” It’s evidence we can’t turn a blind eye to. So, maybe it’s time to hit the “off” button and get our children outside.