“I Want to See It”
Dorothy was not your “ordinary” college student for three main reasons. First of all, she was older than most of them. She was in her middle to late thirties when I knew her. Second of all, she was happily married to an older fellow. He appeared to be closer to sixty than he was to any other age. He was a retired officer from the Air Force. Dorothy was his third attempt at being a successful husband. He was kind and gentle with her. When he spoke of her he did so in very gracious and loving ways. If/when he felt that it was called for, he would become very protective of her. He was a great source of encouragement and motivation for her. And, finally, she was different because, as Dorothy would say, she was “blessed with the gift of blindness”. Because of her personal strength(s) and determination, her husband at her side, her trusty cane, and “Dusty” her beautiful service companion Golden Retriever, she was a special lady.
Dorothy had a beautiful smile that she used constantly. She had the ability to listen carefully and intently, focusing on every word that was spoken and perceiving the emotional situation displayed by the speaker. When she spoke, she did so with such positive and optimistic energy. Through many years of specialized training she had learned to function and thrive in a world of “sightedness”. It was amazing to watch her as she interacted with others. In fact, she enjoyed showing the other students that surrounded her an acquired skill of distinguishing between the different denominations of paper currency (bills) as she readily identified 1s, 5s, 10s, and 20s.
During the time that I had the pleasure of being around Dorothy, we (along with about thirty other students) went to New Orleans to spend a few days. While there, we attempted to experience as much as the “positive” side of the city as possible. I thoroughly enjoyed her company as we ate several meals together, tasting a wide variety of interesting foods and spices. One early evening we chose to dine on gator tail, frog legs, catfish, gumbo, shrimp, and crawdads. It was a wonderful meal; a feast indeed! While sharing the meal, I tried to prepare Dorothy for what she would be tasting next by describing it as best I could. It was easy to tell her about the various items, with the exception of the crawdads. When I tried I found my words just could not come together, leaving my description dreadfully lacking. Sensing my frustrations, Dorothy rescued me by reaching out her hand, palm side up, and saying “I want to see it”. So, I placed a crawdad in her hand. I watched her as she “saw it” with the sense of touch awakened and stimulated in her palm and the fingers of her hands. Carefully, she examined every detail, every appendage, every curvature, every indention, and every crevice. She brought it up close to her nose and inhaled its fragrance. After several moments, she turned in my direction and said, “It’s so cute!”. I was so amazed I did not know how to respond to her.
Lately, I have found myself reflecting upon that experience with Dorothy. In the place in my memory where special things are stored I find that this event has a place all its own. There are some things, like crawdads, that are hard to describe. Words are not sufficient as vehicles and cannot do them justice. Rather, they have to be seen and experienced in order to be described as “It’s so cute”.
As we gather our focus around the season of the celebration of special holidays (Hanukah, Christmas, New Year’s Day, and others) I find myself saying “I want to see it”. I want to see “peace” at work and being made real for all people of all nations and nationalities. I want to see “good will” in practice, not just to hear it expressed in words. I want to see “hope” being defined as a realistic possibility as the people of all of the world seek to envision a world without fear, anger, violence, injustice, inequality, with reduced suffering, and void of a lack of needed resources. I want to see “rejoicing” as all people find answers, solutions, resolution, healing, unity, forgiveness, renewal, a sense of positive optimism, and collective strength.
As we journey on down the trail may we do so with the desire to respond to the things we are able to see and hear with voices lifted in harmony by saying “It’s so cute”.