There
are Many Kinds of Blindness
Mark
10: 46-52
This week the Gospel reading contains the story of the healing of the blind man Bartimaeus. Although these Gospel stories read as if they happened at one time they are actually stories that happen at all times. They happen in our lives, not that we are physical blind in need of healing but that we may be blind in different ways. We don't necessarily see what is around us. We don't see what is before our very eyes for various reasons. We may be so much into our selves that we fail to see the needs of people around us. We may be so caught up in the pursuit of things that we think will bring us happiness that we don't see the true nature of happiness. We may be just plain distracted by concentrating on some task that we don't see what is in front of us. In our province the government is considering bringing in legislation which will ban the use of cell phones and some other devices when driving a vehicle. The reason that they are doing this is that studies show that drivers using such devices miss much of the road. People were concerned recently about a public bus driver, who, during rush hour on a busy road in the Vancouver area was doing a puzzle while driving. He was unable to drive the bus with due care and attention. In all these kinds of blindness we miss so much of life. We need to see that the lack of awareness and unresponsiveness to what is right in front us can do harm to ourselves but also to other people share this life with. One way or another we need to be healed or liberated from all these kinds of blindness if we are to really live our lives to the fullest.
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First of all we need to recognize our blindness, what it is doing in our lives and the risks that are involved and then after that we need to do something about it.
Helen Keller, so brave and inspiring to us in her deafness and blindness, once wrote a magazine article entitled: "Three days to see." In that article she outlined what things she would like to see if she were granted just three days of sight. It was a powerful, thought provoking article. On the first day she said she wanted to see friends. Day two she would spend seeing nature. The third day she would spend in her home city of New York watching the busy city and the workday of the present. She concluded it with these words: "I who am blind can give one hint to those who see: Use your eyes as if tomorrow you were stricken blind."
It is interesting to contemplate on what she says in this article and how it relates to us.
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On the first day in "Three days to see" Helen Keller says that she would want to see friends. Are we really aware of the relationships around us and how important they are to us? Sometimes, unfortunately, it takes some kind of tragedy to realize the support that family and friends provide for us and yet it doesn't need to be that way. The support of family and friends can be a part of us at all times and that is where true happiness is found. Sometimes we are unaware of it because of other distractions. A recent article in the Social Studies section of the national newspaper The Globe and Mail pointed this out:
"In an economic time when so many are struggling to get by, it's easy to fantasize that a little more wealth or success is the key to greater joy," Barbara Rowley writes for Parenting magazine. "So perhaps there is no better time for this reminder: All the studies on the subject show that the key and consistent element in the lives of very happy people is close personal relationships. Period." "Human beings are meant to be together," says Gregg Easterbrook, a father of three and author of The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse . "Having good, supportive relationships is 90 per cent of life."
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On the second day, Helen Keller would want to spend in nature. How important that is but here again we can miss so much of it because of our lack of awareness. There is an old saying "Stop and smell the roses" but in at lot of cases we don't even see the roses. We are so oblivious to the things around us. I remember one time traveling across the island to long beach on the west side of the island with a couple of young people. The scenery across the island is spectacular. At some places along the way you want to get out and breath it all in. You want to sing or play a trumpet or some other instrument in praise of what you see. These young people just wanted to sleep through the whole journey with the refrain "Wake me when we get to where we're going". They were not concerned about the journey, only the destination. The journey , to me, was as important and breathtaking as the destination. You miss a whole lot in life just concentrating on the destination and being unconscious to the what is around us as we travel through life. Life in a lot of ways IS the journey.
The mother of my son-in-law has just died this week. It has saddened the whole family. She was such a sensitive and loving person. One of the things that I appreciated about her was her love of nature and that she took time to enjoy it. She didn't have a car so she walked everywhere which gave her pure pleasure in everything she experienced along the way. She had her favorite places such as the bird sanctuary close to where she lived, one of the rocks visible along the sea wall where the sea lions bask , and even a place near the city hall where there were always bunnies gathered. As she got close to her last day, one thing she wanted so much to do was to be wheeled out of the hospital down to where the bunnies were. She died before it could take place but nevertheless she leaves an example to all of us that there is so much in nature that makes life worth living. In fact, I believe that family, nature and the simple things of an ordinary day gave her life meaning. I am appreciative that she was able to take my grandchildren on walks with her, enjoying flowers and other forms of life along the way. They spent time picking up pine cones which my grandson proudly brought home. The pine cones have been made into a wreath with fall colored ribbons that will provide a memorial to her. Her service will probably take place outdoors at one of the places that she enjoyed so much. It will be a celebration of her life and also a celebration of nature and family relationships
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On the third day, Helen Keller would spend in her home city of New York watching the busy city and the workday of the present. There is so much io appreciate in day to day activities and sometimes we do not take the time to see them.
I have always been moved by a piece in Thorton Wilder's play Our Town.
The main character, Emily, discovers the joy of being fully alive too late. After she is dead, she pleads with the spirits to allow her to return and look in on one day of her life, one last time. She picks her twelfth birthday.
Emily is more than dismayed as she recognizes how little the people she loves really comprehend the joys of life or experience them with any depth of awareness. She cries out to be taken away, to not have to watch any more of their inattention to the preciousness of life - Her parting words are, "Good-bye! Good-bye, world. Good-bye, Grover's Comers ... Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking and Mama's sunflowers, and food and coffee. And even ironed dresses and hot baths - sleeping and waking up. 0 earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you." She stoops, hesitates, and asks with tears in her eyes, "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Eh? - every minute?"
It is possible to see that our healing from the blindness that besets us is in the expanding awareness of the glories of everyday experience - how precious the ordinary really is. To see that is one of the one of the marks of Spiritual growth.
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Perhaps Helen Keller's advice to us who see is what we need to hear and act on once we recognize our form of blindness : "Use your eyes as if tomorrow you were stricken blind."
Life cannot be rich without such awareness
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Each year, thousands of women and children become homeless as a result of domestic violence. "The Goddess Within" music project is designed to empower those whose lives have been affected by domestic abuse and to raise awareness of this issue.
"The Goddess Within" compilation album will showcase artists and their songs, written for or relating to those escaping the cycle of violence. The C.D. will be distributed throughout North America and proceeds from the sale of the C.D. will be donated to women's shelters.
More information on the CD is available at ARTISTS FOR CHANGE
My daughter Carly
is featured on the album with her
song The Mask.
The art for cover for the CD
album is the creation of another
daughter,
Mary Anne Molcan.
Another site to access is Ending Domestic Abuse
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Mary Anne is a very talented artist. She has a new web site called Faerie Artist where she displays her Art. You can access her site at:
