[blparent] Helpers pushing beliefs on you

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

At the risk of stepping into ridiculous territory for a moment, I will
point out that saying, "Shut up and grow up," is not only rude but
immature as well.

Having said that, some people can be trusted while others are not trust
worthy at all. However, in context of this thread, we are addressing
assistance for finding items when shopping. It should not take great
trust and dependability in people to find products at a store.
Regardless of who assists me-- employee, friend, neighbor, family
member-- it shouldn't require great trust from me to know they are
helping as best they can in locating and retrieving products whether it
be groceries, clothes or other items. We are not talking about some
great complex issue here, so it's in no way immature, silly or crazy to
expect those assisting us to "tell the truth" in locating products.

If you prescribe to a religion, or way of life, that follows certain
dietary guides, but I do not, it's not your job to "convert" me or
"save" me by lying  about finding said food items. You can speak to me,
explaining your beliefs, providing information so I can make my own
informed decision, but it's not your job to deny me my request because
you find it wrong for any reason. And what chance do you have of
converting me by lying? Most religions place great emphasis on the
truth, whether it be relative or not; truth is important to most and a
universal thread connecting many world-religions. So when you adhere to
a religion known for it's emphasis on the truth, and then you lie, it
does not make that religion appear great; even if it's just one person,
we all know a handful of people can influence the view on an entire
group.

This is an extreme situation, I think, though many of us have
experienced something similar when it comes to our blindness and what
others perceive is info we need or don't need, but in general, in my
experience, most people assisting me do their best to help. And like
mentioned in another post, I assist others who do the same for me. I
always offer gas money to people helping and driving; I will treat to a
nice dinner at times; I offer to help with home and/or lawn projects; I
baby-sit for others free of charge. Blindness does not entitle us to
help, nor does it excuse us from helping. And on the flip side, people
helping us must understand what, why and when we need help, and it's not
up to them to decide what info we be privy to, or what products we
should purchase.

To make this such a big deal seems immature to me especially when the
initial topic is about selecting hot beverages. None of us have to
accept help from those not willing to truly help us, but to assume we
can't trust anyone to tell the truth when grocery shopping seems a bit
ludicrous. Oh us poor blind people. I guess we just have to go through
life existing on the benevolence of others and not ever being able to
trust these people though. Really?

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 11
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:54:28 -0700
From: "Tay Laurie" <j.t.laurie at gmail.com>
To: "Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blparent] Pregnancy and food- Helpers pushing beliefs on
	you
Message-ID: <7E2F20DFD82747ACAEE2BE156C785230 at user86d09ba0cd>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=original

IMHO, there is nothing immature about expecting someone to practice what

they preach. For someone who gave an awful lot of emphasis on being
"honest 
in your dealing with your fellow man", selective blindness and lying, I 
would have hoped, weren't in the cards. How is that being immature?
We did compensate her, by making her dinner. That being said, we didn't 
realise half the stuff on our list she wouldn't/didn't/couldn't help us 
find, because she didn't want to see it there. Her lying was what got
me, 
because the next time my husband went, the tea was right where I told
him 
and the clerk it would be. I also pointed out to one of our neighbours
who 
helps us out alot what happened, and her response was, "Yeah, that
happens 
alot around here, and especially in this ward". I'm not saying all LDS
are 
bad. My husband and I are both baptised, but after all we've seen, it's
hard 
to keep going back. But what I'm trying to say is, when someone helps
us, 
their truth should, hopefully, be the concrete truth. He even reached
out 
and was able to recognise the box that particular brand of tea came in,
but 
couldn't figure out which variety. He asked and she simply said, "I
don't 
see it. what are you talking about?". That to me shows a lack of 
understanding and a willingness to lie for your own ends.
And for someone who placed, as I said, a ton of emphasis on being
honest, 
that's inexcusible.