[Ohio-Talk] Some Thoughts and a Song

[ali benmerzouga]

Hi JW,
Thanks for sharing and for the advice! Greatly appreciated.
Take care and stay safe.
Ali


-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Smith, JW via
Ohio-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2021 12:23 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List (ohio-talk at nfbnet.org)
<ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Smith, JW <smithj at ohio.edu>
Subject: [Ohio-Talk] Some Thoughts and a Song

Dear NFB of Ohio Family, Friends, and Colleagues, It is so good to hear
voices and to interact with people in our building again! You don't know how
much you miss something  like that until you do.
I got lost today, which is hard to do in Athens, but I want to share my
experience with you. I took a two block walk to a destination that I have
visited many times and on the way back I created one of the most common
mistakes that some of us blind, and visually impaired, travelers tend to
make. As I attempted to cross one of the busier streets in Athens, I let my
mind wonder a bit and I ended up on the wrong corner. I continued to walk
the wrong way until my senses  kicked in as well as my travel and mobility
instincts took over and I noticed that there was two-way traffic on my
right, and that should not have been the case. Thankfully, it is a nice day,
in terms of weather in January in Ohio, so after wandering around a bit I
decided to get serious about finding my way back to my office. I started
retracing my steps and I started  listening for a voice or landmark that
might give me the answers I sought. A young man said "Hello" to me and I
took the opportunity to ask him which way was the particular street I was
looking for. He told me and within seconds I was on my way. I just wanted to
share this with you to assure some of you that this could, and possibly has,
happened to many of us; even those of us that have been traveling
independently for many years. The moral of this story is, maintain your
concentration no matter how familiar your route - and trust your travel and
mobility training and skills. Finally, I had the opportunity to record a
video of me singing my version of "America" for a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
celebration held at one of our regional campuses on January 25th. I have
shared the audio version of this with you in the past but if you're
interested in this recent video version, click on this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioG0RqnxQMA&feature=youtu.be.
Have a great day and a great week!


jw


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