[Blindtlk] an awkward experience

Tue Oct 8 15:35:53 UTC 2013

 I lost my vision back in 2001 from Diabetic Retinopathy from Complications from Diabetes as well as from Kidney Failure. When you are on that Dialysis Machine, you have a why me attitude, I didn't consider so much the blindness issue, I was praying that god would leave me on this earth one more day. I said if I ever get off of this machine, I would do what I could to educate and advocate.

In 2005, God heard my prayers, he sent me a person, who would give me one of his kidneys, he was a non-related living donor, you don't have to be dead to donate to people for certain things.

I had the surgery on August 23, 2005, and 8 years later, many of you on this list have read my stories in the Braille Monitor about myself, what I have done, etc.

Getting back to the issue at hand now, I get it all the time from other people of other religions, and mind you I am a good Christian,  I am jewish, hubby is catholic, ex-hubby is muslim, and I have many friends of different religious background.

But when people come up to me and say you poor thing and they say, don't you know that Jesus can make the blind man see, if you are faithful enough. When people used to say this to me in the beginning many years ago, I would get upset, then offended, now I kindly and respectfully give it back to them.

I say to them, first of all, I am not a poor person, and I am not going to let you know what my religious preference to the person doing this, but I say, yes I am a faithful person, or god would have taken me to his side years ago. God has left me on this earth to do his work.

I also say, that statement about Jesus making the blind see. I say it can be taken in 2 ways, since we all not there at the time this had happened. I say, well it can mean that Jesus made blind man see, meaning making them become faithful to the word of god and opening there eyes to him, or it can also mean that he actually, physically touched the person and made him have sight again, but that is the person making the determination upon the reading of this statement.

I have a good friend, that many of us have within the NFB and that if Father John Sheehan, who is the Chairman of the Xavier Society for the Blind here in NY. He is also the Chaplain for the National Association of Blind Veterans, and a member of the NFB here in NY, which is proud of, and many people have had this discussion with him.

In my own words, I rather be a blind faithful person, than a sighted unfaithful person.

Cheryl Echevarria

Disabled Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 of NY StateLeading the Way in Independent Travel!
Cheryl Echevarria, Ownerwww.echevarriatravel.com631-456-5394reservations at echevarriatravel.com
 Your old car keys can be the keys to literacy for a blind child.  Donate your unwanted vehicle to us by clicking www.nfb.org/vehicledonations or call 855-659-9314. Echevarria Travel has partnered with Braille Smith. www.braillesmith.com for all her braille needs.  Gail Smith is the Secretary of the NFB of Alabama

> From: gwunder at earthlink.net
> To: lras at sprynet.com; blindtlk at nfbnet.org
> Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2013 10:17:54 -0500
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] an awkward experience
> 
> Lloyd, your words show you are an exceptional man--not an exceptional blind man, not an exceptionally talented technical guy, but an exceptional human being trying to live a good and balance life. I love your message, and I care very much for the messenger as well.
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lloyd Rasmussen
> Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 9:31 AM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] an awkward experience
> 
> I have had these experiences, also.  I often try to tell people that I believe that God could give me sight if it suited His purposes.  The fact that He has not seen fit to do this indicates that I am where God wants me to be, and sometimes even doing what He wants done by a person in my position.
> 
> If the question of whether you have sinned or not comes up, I would refer them to John 9, which is a passage worth reading.  You could check it out on Biblegateway.com .
> 
> We are engaged in a struggle to change what it means to be blind.  The struggle should not always manifest itself as a fight.  All of us are people who have something to contribute, and sometimes this is by the example we set.  Some people will understand us and some will not.  It's going to be this way for the rest of our lives.  Be prepared to offer a good word in season and out of season.
> 
> Lloyd Rasmussen, Kensington, MD
> http://lras.home.sprynet.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael
> Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 9:23 AM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Subject: [Blindtlk] an awkward experience
> 
> Good morning folks,  I lost my sight six years ago and went through a very dark time for a couple of years and eventually became comfortable with who I am and have since then gone on to do most of what I did before.
> 
> But I had an experience yesterday that I didn’t know how to handle.  I was at the gym and had just completed an hour of cardio.  I was sitting at a table located in the center of the gym floor cooling down when a woman began a conversation with me.  She said that she was sitting at the table also (which I doubt) and that God had put her there to talk to me and that she 
> was an evangelist.   She asked if she could talk to me.  When I answered in 
> the affirmative she stood next to me, took my hand in both of her hands, and began praying over me.  She asked God to help this poor  child, saying that Jesus had healed the sick, cured the blind, and raised the dead.  She prayed for over a minute (at least it felt like), using verbage that I only hear on Sunday morning.  Then she finished and left me sitting there.  I was shocked and didn’t know what to say.  I let her do her thing thinking that I had probably made her feel positive about herself by helping “this poor child”.  Understand that I am a christian but have never had such an embarrassing display since losing my sight.  Has this happened to others, and how did you handle such a display?
> 
> Michael
> 
> 
> 
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