Aaron Williams-Mele was stunned into silence when he put on the EnChroma glasses at Whitehurst Beach in Norfolk, Virginia.
A colorblind man was moved to tears when a pair of special glasses allowed him to see a sunset in full color for the first time.
Aaron Williams-Mele was stunned into silence when he put on the EnChroma glasses at Whitehurst Beach in Norfolk, Virginia.
“What the f***,” he says in a video of the moment, as he struggles to control his emotions.
Speaking to INSIDE EDITION, Williams-Mele described the incredible moment.
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"When I put them on, everything started glowing. The grass was glowing, the water was glowing," he said. "The reason I picked this sunset was because I was always told it was the most colorful thing out there and I really wanted to experience a sunset for the first time."
Not only was he shocked by what he saw, he was also shocked by his emotional reaction.
"I didn't expect to react the way I did," he said. "I expected to be very surprised but I didn't expect to be completely speechless over it."
Williams-Mele learned he was colorblind in first-grade when he was unable to correctly identify colored crayons. It has since affected his ability to get certain jobs, he said.
He was unable to do many jobs in the military, and while he is able to edit videos, he cannot color correct the footage. He also works on cars but cannot work on the interiors or carry out certain painting jobs.
"In all the industries I've tried to work in, it's held me back in one way or the other," he said.
He first read about the glasses on Reddit about a year ago and was overjoyed when his mother offered to buy them for his birthday.
The glasses were first invented by glass engineer Don McPherson to protect doctors' eyes during laser corrective surgery. But when McPherson lent them to a colorblind friend to use as sunglasses, they found out the friend could see colors he had not been able to see before.
"They make life more enjoyable," Williams-Mele said. "I smile when I put them on... But overall I don't think they'll help me get those jobs."
Despite the experience with the sunset, he says he won't be wearing the glasses all the time because he still needs to get used to them.
"It is very distracting" at work, he told INSIDE EDITION. "I find myself staring off at something very bright blue or very bright green and I can't concentrate on the task at hand."
But he is looking forward to wearing them to experience nature in its full glory again. He hopes to travel to Colorado so he can see more sunsets, mountains and rolling hills.
"I want to go around the world if I can," he said.
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