<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
span.EmailStyle19
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal">Hi,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t hate being blind because I was born blind and do not know any other way to be. It is normal for me to be blind.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When people ask me what it is like being blind, inside, I sometimes think “Oh no! Not that again. I don’t know how to answer that.” So they asked me; I tell them that the social side of blindness is what it is like to be blind, worse than
actually not seeing. Sure, I’d like to have driven a car; read print books with my own eyes, and see people and watch them in the mall back when I took my daughter there to shop—Heaven forbid!
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I usually tell them how I am seen as less intelligent and less capable than nonblind people, and the exclusion I experience is very sad. But, like Robert said, it is best to keep going on and live our lives.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Blessings,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lauren Merryfield<span style="font-family:"Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif">❤</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#CC0000">"What a power is love! It is the most wonderful, the greatest of all living powers. Love gives life to the lifeless. Love lights a flame in the heart that
is cold.Love brings hope to the hopeless and gladdens the hearts of the sorrowful. In the world of existence there is indeed no greater power than the power of love."</span></i></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#CC0000">
</span><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Abdu’l-Baha<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> NFB-Seniors-Discussion <nfb-seniors-discussion-bounces@nfbnet.org>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>RobertLeslie Newman via NFB-Seniors-Discussion<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Sunday, March 7, 2021 10:35 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> NFB Seniors Division Discussion List <nfb-seniors-discussion@nfbnet.org><br>
<b>Cc:</b> robertleslienewman@gmail.com<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [NFB-Seniors-Discussion] I hate being blind - Can or do you ever say this?<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Hi Fellow Discussion List Members
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">It has been very quiet here of late, and so read my short paragraph below and share-<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Most times, when I meet a new person and they ask me what is it like to be blind, I will say something like this:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Well… Let me start off with telling you that my story starts out with the fact that I was born with Twenty-twenty vision, and at age fifteen, I was in a car accident and lost
all my sight; I cannot even see light. Now, I see just as good out of the back of my head, as I do the front. And what I have learned, is that being blind, not able to use my eyes to do things in life is not so difficult; that most everything can be done non-visually.
And that I’ve also learned that the toughest and most frustrating part of being blind is how other people view you, and treat you; they can make it more disheartening and difficult to do what I know I can do. But hey, though I hate being blind, life is to
big and beautiful to get hung up in the small things; like being blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Respectfully yours,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Robert Leslie Newman<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Omaha, Nebraska
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>