[Nfbf-l] Sight is Required
Bill Kociaba
williamkociaba at comcast.net
Sun Jun 26 21:52:58 UTC 2011
OK, what I am about to say may not make me very popular with some of you
but such is life...
Matt, Tara, everyone out there being blind SUCKS! Plain and simple. But if
all of us who are blind suddenly had good vision that does not mean all our
problems would be gone. In fact it would create new problems for those who
had never seen. It would be a kind of sensory overload that might just be
too much for one to emotionally deal with. Matt you say one interesting
thing "enough sight that I wouldn't appear to be blind..." I totally
understand that there are things you want to do or used to do that require
sightthat is an issue for anyone of us who doesn't want to just sit on the
computor or phone as you say however weather or not you appear to be blind
shouldn't mean a damn thing to you! Its not your problem if your being blind
bothers someone its their problem!
Everyone goes through changes in their lives and everyone has to accept that
some things they might have enjoyed at one time might not be possable any
more. Weather they see or not. The super athalete who can't do what he or
she used to when they get older has to have great frustration..but they find
other interests and accept what can not be changed. Before my vision got
very bad I used to be a coin collector. I was one of the most knowledgable
young people in the hobby. I published articles and one all kinds of awards
and well now I can't see those coins that used to give me so much enjoyment.
Such is life. I have replaced that with other things.
I am going to throw a question at you all. Give it some serious thought.
If you were given the choice from this moment forward until the end of your
life to be blind, not be able to hear or be stuck in a wheel chair. Which
would you take? If you can't hear you really can't comunicate with people
very easily. You can't hear music, birds, the sound of a storm the sound of
your child or grand childs voice. I have traveled in europe a bit and
learned that the rest of the world is not as accessable as the US. Most of
those wonderful old buildings are not wheelchair accessable and the prospect
of trying to deal with the cobbelstone streets in Rome in a chair...just not
gonna happen. We as "blind people" can live much more "normal" and active
lives than either the def person or one in a chair. It sucks but it could
be worse!
As far as being well adjusted to a change or loss in your life goes, it
doesn't mean that you never are sad over it or never think, "if only..." it
means accepting your situation and doing the best you can to live a full and
happy life. My father has been dead for 14 years and I have adjusted to him
not being in my life but that doesn't mean I don't miss him it doesn't mean
that at times when I am remembering him that a tear doesn't come to my eye.
It just means that I can go on with my life and function. Something I
couldn't do for a while when I first lost him.
It would be wonderful if there were procedures that could help us see but if
we sit and wait for them and hope and all that we are gonna miss out on lots
of good stuff that could be happening to us right now.
My all time favorite song lyric is by John Lennon and it applys so well
here. Matt ponder this one real hard(and any of the rest of you who feel
sorry for your selves a bit too much) LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHILE YOU ARE
BUSY MAKING OTHER PLANS...Bill
Bill Kociaba
CRUISEONE
Bill at Ycruise.com
954 227 7772 or Toll Free 877 227 7775
7600 Wiles Rd, Coral Springs, FL 33067
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tara Prakash Tripathi" <taraprakash at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Florida Internet Mailing List" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2011 3:50 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] Sight is Required
> Appreciate your thoughts Matt. The problem is that perfect is the enemy of
> good. I am not sure how well-adjusted will make you well-adjusted. There
> are degrees of attainment yet nobody is perfect. There was a time that a
> lot of people whom you would consider well-adjusted (because they are not
> blind) would have liked to be as well-adjusted as Bill Gates. But now they
> want to be as well-adjusted as Steve Jobs or the facebook inventor with a
> complicated last name. I lived in apartments once, I thought I was not
> well-adjusted there. I wanted to live in a house. Now I live in one, I
> should be well-adjusted. But soon I will desire for a house with more
> rooms or may be with a swimming pool. We have a whole ocean of problems,
> not because we are blind but because we are human beings. And so we want
> to achieve something better, that leads to progress, or from the situation
> of being well-adjusted to very well-adjusted or very very well-adjusted.
> The ocean of problems can not be crossed with a single giant leap, again
> not because we are blind, but because we are human beings and we all have
> our limitations.
>
> Dwights' endeavor may not give me a car to drive, even if it gives me a
> car to drive it may not take all my limitations away. Those limitations
> will stay in some form or the other even if my sight is restored. What
> Dwight teaches is not how to be well-adjusted but to have a mission and to
> fulfill it.
>
> In small proportions we just beauties see;
> And in short measures, life may perfect be.
>
>
> Best
>
> Tara
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Matt Roberts" <blindbiker at yahoo.com>
> To: <Nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2011 3:13 PM
> Subject: [Nfbf-l] Sight is Required
>
>
>>I have been doing a lot of soul searching. Sadly I have come up with a
>>realization that will be foreign to most of you, but feel I should share
>>it anyway.
>> We can create all the artificial things we want to allow us to be like
>> everyone else, but it won't do it. Most things I ike to do require
>> sight, and there is no getting around it! The only way to be able to
>> fully enjoy my life is if I get full vision, or enough to allow me to not
>> appear blind. Blindness is the most feared thing most people "see" and
>> nothing we can do will change that!
>> Instead of worrying about a small aspect of society such as driving, we
>> need to focus on seeing.
>> That's my goal, to see! We will see ways eye conditions can be reversed.
>> It may not happen tomorrow, but it will happen. When mine is reversed,
>> I'll be able to enjoy all the things which are closed off to me right
>> now. I don't choose to live my life as a blind person. Why? All blind
>> people do is sit home and live on the phone and computer or watch TV all
>> day. Very few of us are working, and are relying on the government to
>> support us. That's not the kind of life I choose to live!
>> Before you tell me I'm not fully adjusted to my disability, I'd ask you
>> are you fully adjusted? You never fully adjust to not being able to do
>> things you once did or want to do. Anyone who tells you they are fully
>> adjusted to being blind is not telling the truth.
>> I can't predict exactly when , but in a few years, when eye conditions
>> are being reversed, I hope you'll take advantage it this. A few cases of
>> blindness have been reversed. It can openly get better!
>>
>>
>> Matt Roberts blindbiker at yahoo.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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