[nagdu] A Question of Philosophy

[Angie Matney]

Here's an excerpt from Love in the Lead that makes the point:

          Before he left Vevey, two experiences  completed his conversion to a religious faith in Buddy.  The first appeared on a sunken road leading up from the funicular to Fortunate Fields.  Ahead of him he heard galloping hoofs and clattering wheels 
bearing down at a breakneck speed.  For just an instant, Buddy paused, then wheeled right and pulled him off the road up a steep embankment.  The harness handle seemed to be rising nearly over his head, but he hung on tight and stumbled up 
after her.  He reached the top only moments before a pair of runaway horses dragging a heavy peasant cart thundered by.  Jack Humphrey, who saw it all, was too far behind to come to the rescue.  Buddy had done it all on her own.
          The second experience was far less dramatic, even prosaic.  Morris was sitting in the drawing room before lunch listening to Mrs. Eustis playing one of the grand pianos.
          "I need a haircut," he mused, fingering the hair above his ears.  "Do you think Mr. Eustis could take me down to the barber shop this afternoon?"
          The piano paused.  "You have Buddy, Morris," Mrs. Eustis suggested.  'Why don't you go with her?"
          Why didn't he go with her?  The thought was staggering.  It was a long moment before he could take it in.  He could go with Buddy.  He didn't have to depend on a human guide, wait until it suited his convenience and feel obligated for the 
favor afterwards.  He could go with Buddy, who would ask no thanks beyond the "Atta good girls" that were becoming second nature and who would feel proud and happy at the opportunity to work.
          After lunch, Morris harnessed Buddy and headed for the funicular.  In Vevey they threaded their way to the barber shop and returned.  The trip had none of the thrill of a narrow escape from runaway horses, but its meaning was far more 
exciting to Morris.  A runaway team comes once in a lifetime.  Haircuts come every few weeks.  Nothing could be more ordinary.  That is the reason why it is so hard to get a human guide to take a blind man for a haircut.  Family and friends will be 
generous on important occasions.  It is the ordinary prosaic little chores, the trips to the barber shop or post office, the purchase of shoelaces or tooth paste that can be most frustrating by reason of their very simplicity.
          Late that afternoon, sitting alone  on the terrace overlooking the lake, Morris began to laugh.  He couldn't stop.  The more he tried, the harder he laughed.  Mrs. Eustis overheard him and came out to find him alone, laughing as she had never 
heard him laugh before.
          "What in the world is the matter?"
          It took Morris a moment to control himself.  Then he explained.  "At home in Nashville getting my hair cut was a major event.  Some days Father would drop me off at the barber shop on his way to work and leave me there until he could pick 
me up on his way home to lunch.  Today Buddy took me to get my hair cut.  For the first time in four years, I'm free.  That's why I'm laughing.  Because I'm free, by God.  I'm free!"