Outside the Zone

In THE TWILIGHT ZONE episode TIME ENOUGH AT LAST Burgess Meredith plays Henry Bemis, a henpecked little guy who's persecuted for what his boss identifies as the crime of being ... a reader. He must steal time to pursue the simple pleasure of reading.

Fate intervenes in the form of the H Bomb. Henry survives because he was in a bank vault when the bomb obliterated almost everything he knew. He finds a revolver and is about to end his solitude when he spies the ruins of the Public Library, overflowing with readable books. His life is renewed.

Fate intervenes once again when Henry accidentally breaks his glasses. Henry declares its not fair. Life's not fair.

I was ten years old when I saw that episode, but I learned its lesson: if I wanted to keep out of The Twilight Zone, I'd best keep a spare pair of glasses. Forty years later I came to need reading glasses, so I keep several spare pair of glasses, and remain, to this date, clear of the Twilight Zone.