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They started out with a small store, good service, and a progressive business model.Their goods and services were inexpensive, and so the store became popular. Soon other stores were built.By expanding on their business model into groceries, pharmaceuticals, eye care, banking, tire centers, and on-line services, they have managed to stay relevant and cost effective.When Sam came up with the business, he created a way to add jobs to communities. Walmart is now the biggest employer in the US.When you create something successful that everyone uses, you are going to make money…lots of it.That’s what the Waltons did.

I have a friend from a village in the mountains of Colombia. She lives in Vienna now. Happily married. Works for the UN. I asked her about the cartels and drug use in Colombia.She said the cartel provided a school, teacher, and school supplies. They provided a clinic and a nurse and medicine, plus a new truck to take people into the city for more complicated medical help. The cartel paid all hospital bills. They provided eye care and glasses. They bought truckfuls of new books for everyone in the village through the free library.They even provided bungalows for elderly women and widows without much family. Sometimes, about once a month, they would use a bungalow basement to process drugs for export to the U.S. Everything they processed was for the U.S. market.My friend’s grandmother was one of those women. She cooked for cartel workers when they came.My friend said that NOBODY in the cartel or the villages did drugs. Nobody. She said that there were a few druggie people in the cities, but that only the lowest form of human being indulged in drugs. If a young person in a family even experimented with drugs, the entire family would be involved, especially with expressing their humiliation at having such a low-quality person emerge within the family.They all know that the drugs leave the country for the U.S. where the market for drugs is insatiable.My friend didn’t know that the cartels were a bad thing until she moved to the U.S. and then to Canada. She was amazed at this.She said that in her extended families and their families, and all the people in their village, she never even met one person who did drugs.Not even one.How concerned should they be about the drug problems in another country?(Nasty, insulting, and disrespectful comments will be deleted.)

Stop smoking. Apart from it's well established role in lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases, smoking (active or passive) affects your eye health directly as well. It accelerates the development of age related cataract and age related macular degeneration and can cause optic neuropathy. It delays corneal epithelial healing, worsens dry eyes and thyroid eye diseases.Use sunglasses: in daylight : shades even on cloudy days. UV rays can cause cancerous conditions and can accelerate age related conditions. Use 100% UVA and UVB protective glasses.Protect your eyes: with protective eye wear meeting standard set guidelines (polycarbonate glasses at the least) - ask your employee or coach -if working in industry with risk of exposure to chemicals, fumes, vapors, small projectiles, welding arc, excess heat.if engaging in high risk sports - boxing. martial arts. cricket, tennis/squash, soccer, basketball, rifle sports, shooting, paintball.constant wear - if one eyed.Use glasses (for refractive error):In children : Follow these guidelines in children younger than 3 years of age.In adults : Use glasses if you need them. Glasses are visual aids to see clearly like hearing aids are to hear clearly. Using or not using them has no long term consequence in adults. If you cannot see without them, use them. If you are fine without them they are not compulsory.Do not put kajal/kohl/surma in new born’s eyes.Do not sleep without removing contact lens. Do not clean them with expired solution or tap water.Do not use cows urine or some herbal medication for corneal ulcer, no matter how much you love cows.Do not put itone to remove glasses. it will never.Identify symptoms and risks: Eyes like any other system of our body usually take care of themselves and do not need any assistance unless they ask for it. And when eyes are in trouble they signal and demand help usually without delay.Indicators for assistance / help / check up / when you should not sit and wait or treat them at home -Pain, Redness, Excessive watering, Double vision, Loss of function - can't see(totally, slightly), can't move, can't close, can't open.Injuries especially chemical injury (Lime/chuna, holi color, vapors. battery acid, any industrial chemicals) are an absolute emergency.Anything of new onset. Abnormal reflex from the eye in photographs. Consult an ophthalmologist as soon as possible.Sometimes the signal may come when damage is beyond repair. Hence the role of screening.Screening of high risk infants - As soon as possible after birth. High risk infants i.e premature infants, having family history of ocular condition-retinoblastoma, congenital glaucoma and cataract or systemic metabolic conditions having effect on eyes.Routine screening of children should be done once during infancy and on every visit to health care setting for routine check ups thereafter or as suggested by the ophthalmologist after first screening. Simple treatable conditions like refractive errors and squint can have permanent visual consequences (amblyopia, permanent loss of binocularity and stereopsis).In school going children - annual examination or at least once in two years.In adults Identify your risk group- get a baseline screening done if you have-High myopiaFamily history of glaucoma, retinal detachment, corneal dystrophies or some chronic systemic disease or any metabolic condition which caused eye problems in your family.Diabetes - In Insulin dependent (type 1) diabetics - first retinal screening after five years of diagnosis and annually thereafter. In non insulin dependent (type 2) diabetics at the time of diagnosis and at least annually after baseline evaluation. Before conception and during first trimester in diabetics who conceive.Tuberculosis - Drugs in ATT like ethambutol and rarely isoniazid can cause dose dependent toxicity to optic nerve which is usually reversible on stopping the intake if identified at early stage. Have a baseline visual acuity, color vision record and retina examination before starting ATT. Consult your ophthalmologist immediately if you develop blurring of vision while on treatment for ATT.Drugs like Steroids -taken for long in any form (tablets, inhalers, skin ointments, eye drops) can cause damage to eyes. Get baseline evaluation and regular screening if you need them for chronic duration.Routine Baseline screening at 40 - when presbyopia hits. Time when conditions like glaucoma may creep in silently.So identify your risks. If you are risk and symptom free- then after childhood screening get it done straightaway when you are 40.Lastly, Listen to your ophthalmologist.Wanna know more: link to abstracts.[Present knowledge on the effects of smoking tobacco on the eye diseases].Damaging Effects of Ultraviolet Radiation on the Cornea.Ultraviolet radiation as a risk factor for cataract and macular degeneration.Ultraviolet light and ocular diseases.Screening for and managing diabetic retinopathy: current approaches.[Retinopathy of prematurity].Screening for ocular dysfunction in children: approaching a common program.Picture source : American Academy of Ophthalmology