174 W H A T EVERY BODY IS SAYING
pupils, everything in front of us thus becomes precisely focused so that
we can see clearly and accurately in order to defend ourselves or effectively
escape (Nolte, 1999, 431–432). This is very similar to how a camera aper-
ture (opening) works: the smaller the aperture, the greater the focal length,
and the clearer the focus on everything near and far. Incidentally, if you
ever need an emergency pair of reading glasses and none are available,
just make a small pinhole in a piece of paper and hold it up to your eye;
the small aperture will bring what you are reading into focus. If maximal
pupil constriction isn’t sufficient, then we squint to make the aperture as
small as possible while simultaneously protecting the eye (see figure 62).
While walking with my daughter a few years back, we passed some-
one she recognized. She squinted slightly as she gave the girl a low
wave. I suspected something negative had transpired between them, so
I asked my daughter how she knew the girl. She replied that the girl
had been a high school classmate with whom she had previously had
words. The low-hand wave was done out of social convention; however,
the eye squint was an honest and betraying display of negative emotions
We squint to block out light or objection-
able things. We squint when we are angry
or even when we hear voices, sounds, or
music we don’t like.Fig. 62