By Judy Reiss
I know I have mentioned before that I am an avid reader. I firmly believe the most important thing we can teach our children is how to read. And if you teach them this skill when they are young, I think they will be able to learn almost anything plus learn to love to read!

However, nagging you about teaching your children to read isn’t the only reason I am mentioning reading. There is something that is driving me crazy! I can’t begin to tell you how many books I have read this year. But what I do know is when describing the female lead or star, she almost always has emerald green eyes. And not only that, her hair is always long, thick and if it isn’t a deep luxurious red, it is raven black. And this is almost regardless of her age. Now, here is my question, how many women or men for that matter, have green eyes? And the only ones I know who have raven black hair are those who have dyed their hair…and you can always tell because their hair looks like they have smeared it with shoe polish! Maybe I am just sensitive about hair whether it is black, red or golden blonde, because I have hair. Not thick, flowing gorgeous halos of hair but just hair. And truthfully, at my age I am happy to have any hair left at all!

The hair thing is bad enough, but the myriad of people who have green eyes these days is absolutely ridiculous! How many people do you know with green eyes that are green because that is the color that God gave them? The only green-eyed people I know wear lovely contact lenses that give them the color that they crave. In fact, years ago I met a guy who had the most gorgeous blue eyes I ever saw! Everyone I knew who knew him always mentioned his eyes and I can’t tell you what a shock it was when years later we found out that his eyes were only that deep sea blue because he had the first colored contacts that anyone had ever heard of. What a let down!

Now like my hair, I too have eyes. I have them listed on my license as blue because they don’t have a category for just blah. When I was young I never had heard of colored contacts because if I had, maybe I would have gotten a deep gorgeous blue pair. Of course, I probably couldn’t have afforded them but it would have been a wonderful option. But these days I am just happy that I can see through them!

So here is my idea or my thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to read a novel about a woman who has straight, dirty blond hair, medium height, no longer fat but a little pudgy and a pair of eyes. Now don’t you think that this woman looks like most of the women you know? How many of us know a raven-haired woman with deep shamrock green eyes and is tall and willowy with an amazing figure? Truthfully, I don’t know her and if I did I probably wouldn’t like her anyway!

I know none of us want to read about ourselves but neither do we want to read about someone we have never seen. I know we talk about truth in advertising and a novel isn’t quite in the same category. But come on, eyes as green as the grass in good ole Ireland? And who decided that green eyes are the eyes that we all should hope for? Although they don’t ever mention it, perhaps these green-eyed women or deep blue-eyed men are just models for the colored contact lens companies!