Sometimes it's good to take yourself away from blogging and remember that there is a world outside. Lives are being lived: mothers kissing their babies, lovers sharing a cake at Starbucks, old people taking an afternoon stroll in the park....
Today as I was about to save one of my blog drafts the server crashed. I surfed the web to do some research for my next ramblings while I waited for the server to come back, but it was still down after 30mins.
Oh well. Nevermind. Perhaps I should take a walk. See the world, feel it's energy then write about it. Maybe some idea will pop into my head. I don't want my writings to be too internal, for I will never find any of the answers to what I seek.
I left the internet cafe and took a stroll in the neighbourhood. After a while I noticed a group of people walking in pairs: one person was wearing a blindfold while holding onto the left elbow of the other walking with a white stick. I passed nearly 10 pairs walking this way. The one with the stick was discribing the road to their blindfolded partner: slight pot hole in the road, 5 steps ahead, left; end of wall on the right, stick's length; turn right... and so the "sighted" partner would discribe in great detail the streets that I walked, unaware, every day. (I never noticed that slight pot hole in the road until today!!)
As the procession passed there was a lone woman helping one of the slower pairs in the group. After they had passed I asked her what these people were doing. Was it some social experiment to experience what it's like to be blind?
She told me that they were "trainee" helpers who were training to work with visually impared people, some of whom also have other disabilities. They take it in turns to wear the blindfold so that they can improve their guiding skills. These trainee helpers learn to sharpen their sense of sight -- just as the visually impaired sharpen their sense of sound, smell, and touch to compensate for the absence of vision.
"Learn how to die, and you learn how to live." -- Morrie Schwartz, in tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom
Only by experiencing the loss of vision can we truely appreciate our gift of sight.
Today I realised the importance of "seeing" things. Whether it's seeing the inner voice of an aching heart, or a small pot hole on a familar road....
Sometimes it's good to not blog, and to see the world, for it is the source one's inspirations, thoughts, and lessons in life.
helping each other to "not see" 
1 comment:
It is fascinating when you discover so much that you are programmed to automatically handle. That programming allows you to do so many things, but if not reviewed people never break from their training to find that they are capable of so much different, new, and equally worthwhile. A similar experiment was used to begin to appreciate being gay - try going throughout your day 'masking' your orientation, so no discussions of partners using sexually oriented comments (for guys, no 'she', 'her', other other feminine terms). Equally interesting to do the blind experiment (without help) or the ones where you ties your hands/arms to simulate physical disabilities - things so easy become about impossible. That cup of coffee becoming draining when you have to make it using your feet and toes! Good post! You'll wake everyone up if you keep this line of blogging going ... or you'll have to syndicate your column and quit your day job. Sort of like the 'Dilbert' of philosophy, eh? :)
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