If I could give up one sense..
First of all, thank you to those of you who replied to my last entry. I don't know what prompted me to ask that but thank you for taking the time out to give your honest answers and reasons. It surprised me to see that 3 out of the 4 of you gave up speech. Especially Dawn and Alisha who I think sometimes, talk just to hear themselves at times. lol You know I love you guys. Alright, let's get serious.
During the course of me dating someone I ask myself every once in awhile, "If I were blind, would I still be dating her?" Each and every time, with every girlfriend or girl that I was involved with, the answer is "yes." I don't date or become involved with women based on their looks. It plays a large part but it isn't the determining factor. I'd rather have a girl with a great personality and inner beauty than outer. A lot of us would. At the same time however, how many of the people we've dated and slept with, were horribly ugly? None. Looks do matter to us.
We all base our lives around how we, others, and things look. Each and every day we wake up, shower, get dressed in some nice looking clothes, put on makeup, do our hair, wear matching shoes for our outfit, jacket, pocketbook and/or hat. Before we even leave our house we are consumed with how we look to ourselves and other people, friends, co-workers, even complete strangers. When they wear something funny looking, we make a comment. When they change their hair or get a new pair of shoes that were on sale, we make a compliment. Television shows, movies, commercials and music videos usually only have "attractive" people in them in order to appeal it its customer. It's easy on the eyes. You'll pay attention if there is a beautiful twenty-two year old girl in a bikini selling our beer rather than an overweight, one legged woman with dirty clothes and raggity hair.
Blind people are customers and never even see that scantily clad model in your Hanes commercial. He doesn't know if Claudia Schiffer or Rosanne Barr is selling those clothes but he still buys them.
We go through life putting attractive and unattractive people in their respective categories. We label them and even put ourselves above uglier more unattractive people. Television, radio and the internet are all forcefeeding us diet pills, weight loss plans and gym equiptment. Why? To look better.
Blind people have no idea what is average weight, obese or skinny.
Through sight comes independence. We can walk across a street knowing when a car is coming or someone might bump into us on the sidewalk. We go into a restaurant and know exactly where to sit down, when our waitress is coming and what our meal looks like.
Blind people don't know if they're in the corner of the restaurant or by the window.
When you were in school, there was always some kid getting picked on because they were fat, ugly, poor and wore clothes that weren't namebrand, wore glasses, had braces or didn't drive an expensive car to school.
Blind people don't know if they're wearing Hanes or Gucci. They don't care what you're wearing either.
We put such an important emphasis on what everything looks like that it actually interferes with what we can see.
Seeing with our eyes is never as important or necessary as seeing with our hearts and minds.
We've all said it to ourselves and other people, "Looks don't matter. Looks aren't important to me." That is one of the most untrue statements a person makes. It's a lie, plain and simple. I say it all the time. I won't lie. We mean what we say but not whole heartedly and one hundred and ten percent. Looks play a huge role in what we do, wear and who we surround ourselves with. Looks may not be "that" important to us but they are.
We take so many things relating to sight for granted it's unbelievable. Just for twenty minutes while you're at home, tie a bandana around your eyes and try to function. It's more than just a little difficult. Blind people do that every minute of every day of their lives.
I try my best to see people for who they are rather than what they look like but again, my ability to see with my eyes, clouds my judgment with how I percieve them as a person. We can never truly see what a person looks like until we close our eyes and open our hearts.
I couldn't go without speech, I love to talk too much. I love to make people laugh and with speech, it is so very easy and natural. I couldn't give up music or listening to birds chirp, kids playing outside, people laughing or raindrops on my roof.
I could however, give up my sight.
I met a man in Chicago before I moved. His name was Calvin, a 70 something year old, short little black man who was blind and lived upstairs in my apartment building. We met one day when he asked me to take his garbage across the parking lot for him. After that, whenever I saw him in the hallway or outside, I'd strike up a conversation with him. He was always so happy and relieved that you took his garbage out for him he'd shake your hand and hold onto it like he was falling in love with a girl for the first time and didn't want to let her leave. He was always smiling, cheerful and full of life. Whenever I saw him or talked to him, he brought a smile to my face and although he couldn't see it, he knew it was there, because he felt it.
He knew within ten minutes of our second conversation that I was involved in some type of job or career that invloved working with people. When I told him I was a comedian, he wasn't the least bit surprised.
I'd watch him walk down the hallway, counting the doors with his hand so he'd know exactly where he was. He counted his steps to the stairs and the stairs down another floor. He found his keys with his hands; his touch. He found out who I really was, with his heart.
We go through life thinking that sight is so important. We ask ourselves, "How could I live without being able to see? How could I ever manage to live without the use of my eyes?"
Simple.
Do it the way Calvin did.
See with your heart and mind. Our sight can be taken from us any day. Our hearts and minds are ours forever. They are the best at judging the character of a person.
Our eyes are too busy getting in the way of that.
During the course of me dating someone I ask myself every once in awhile, "If I were blind, would I still be dating her?" Each and every time, with every girlfriend or girl that I was involved with, the answer is "yes." I don't date or become involved with women based on their looks. It plays a large part but it isn't the determining factor. I'd rather have a girl with a great personality and inner beauty than outer. A lot of us would. At the same time however, how many of the people we've dated and slept with, were horribly ugly? None. Looks do matter to us.
We all base our lives around how we, others, and things look. Each and every day we wake up, shower, get dressed in some nice looking clothes, put on makeup, do our hair, wear matching shoes for our outfit, jacket, pocketbook and/or hat. Before we even leave our house we are consumed with how we look to ourselves and other people, friends, co-workers, even complete strangers. When they wear something funny looking, we make a comment. When they change their hair or get a new pair of shoes that were on sale, we make a compliment. Television shows, movies, commercials and music videos usually only have "attractive" people in them in order to appeal it its customer. It's easy on the eyes. You'll pay attention if there is a beautiful twenty-two year old girl in a bikini selling our beer rather than an overweight, one legged woman with dirty clothes and raggity hair.
Blind people are customers and never even see that scantily clad model in your Hanes commercial. He doesn't know if Claudia Schiffer or Rosanne Barr is selling those clothes but he still buys them.
We go through life putting attractive and unattractive people in their respective categories. We label them and even put ourselves above uglier more unattractive people. Television, radio and the internet are all forcefeeding us diet pills, weight loss plans and gym equiptment. Why? To look better.
Blind people have no idea what is average weight, obese or skinny.
Through sight comes independence. We can walk across a street knowing when a car is coming or someone might bump into us on the sidewalk. We go into a restaurant and know exactly where to sit down, when our waitress is coming and what our meal looks like.
Blind people don't know if they're in the corner of the restaurant or by the window.
When you were in school, there was always some kid getting picked on because they were fat, ugly, poor and wore clothes that weren't namebrand, wore glasses, had braces or didn't drive an expensive car to school.
Blind people don't know if they're wearing Hanes or Gucci. They don't care what you're wearing either.
We put such an important emphasis on what everything looks like that it actually interferes with what we can see.
Seeing with our eyes is never as important or necessary as seeing with our hearts and minds.
We've all said it to ourselves and other people, "Looks don't matter. Looks aren't important to me." That is one of the most untrue statements a person makes. It's a lie, plain and simple. I say it all the time. I won't lie. We mean what we say but not whole heartedly and one hundred and ten percent. Looks play a huge role in what we do, wear and who we surround ourselves with. Looks may not be "that" important to us but they are.
We take so many things relating to sight for granted it's unbelievable. Just for twenty minutes while you're at home, tie a bandana around your eyes and try to function. It's more than just a little difficult. Blind people do that every minute of every day of their lives.
I try my best to see people for who they are rather than what they look like but again, my ability to see with my eyes, clouds my judgment with how I percieve them as a person. We can never truly see what a person looks like until we close our eyes and open our hearts.
I couldn't go without speech, I love to talk too much. I love to make people laugh and with speech, it is so very easy and natural. I couldn't give up music or listening to birds chirp, kids playing outside, people laughing or raindrops on my roof.
I could however, give up my sight.
I met a man in Chicago before I moved. His name was Calvin, a 70 something year old, short little black man who was blind and lived upstairs in my apartment building. We met one day when he asked me to take his garbage across the parking lot for him. After that, whenever I saw him in the hallway or outside, I'd strike up a conversation with him. He was always so happy and relieved that you took his garbage out for him he'd shake your hand and hold onto it like he was falling in love with a girl for the first time and didn't want to let her leave. He was always smiling, cheerful and full of life. Whenever I saw him or talked to him, he brought a smile to my face and although he couldn't see it, he knew it was there, because he felt it.
He knew within ten minutes of our second conversation that I was involved in some type of job or career that invloved working with people. When I told him I was a comedian, he wasn't the least bit surprised.
I'd watch him walk down the hallway, counting the doors with his hand so he'd know exactly where he was. He counted his steps to the stairs and the stairs down another floor. He found his keys with his hands; his touch. He found out who I really was, with his heart.
We go through life thinking that sight is so important. We ask ourselves, "How could I live without being able to see? How could I ever manage to live without the use of my eyes?"
Simple.
Do it the way Calvin did.
See with your heart and mind. Our sight can be taken from us any day. Our hearts and minds are ours forever. They are the best at judging the character of a person.
Our eyes are too busy getting in the way of that.