Blind Spots

BLIND SPOTS

“We all have a blind spot and it’s shaped exactly like us.”
Junot Diaz

An Aesop fable titled “The Blind Man and the Lame Man” tells the story of an encounter between the two men. The blind man was trying to walk along a rough road but unable to see the bumps and puddles along the way. He meets a lame man who wants to help him but cannot move even an inch without help. The lame man observes the blind man has healthy strong legs. The blind man suggests he carry the lame man who can guide them as he can see. Both men helped each other and completed their journey, safely and with pleasure.

My great Uncle Clarence, born in 1896 the twelfth of thirteen children, was a sighted man until the age of 25. At that time he became totally blind, probably because of a sickness. What I remember most about him was his unique laugh. Always jovial and amiable, he was adored by everyone.

Uncle Clarence lived alone, never marrying, though people say he did love women. He finally got an indoor bathroom when he was 60 years old. The only thing he was deathly afraid of was a fire. He lived a meager and simple life, not having much. Yet, he kept everything he had neat and tidy. Not liking leaves to pile up in his yard, he raked them by placing poles in the ground and raking between them. With one section done, he would move the poles to rake a new section. He devised ways to compensate for his lack of sight. When he got paid, his nephew would arrange his money in his wallet for him by denominations. He fooled all the cashiers into believing he knew the denominations by touch, no one tried to get one over on him.

Often while guiding him down a road, children and teens tried to fool him by making him jump over puddles or holes that weren’t there. Somehow, he usually knew when they were fooling him and called them on it while chuckling at their antics. Many tried to sneak up on him but he could either see a faint shadow or he could hear them breathing. All my mother had to do was say “hello”, and he knew her voice and with great excitement called her by name. His other senses seemed to always be on point to make up for what his sight lacked.

One of my cousins tells the story of him and his brother going rabbit hunting at night with Uncle Clarence. They got turned around and couldn’t find their way back. Uncle Clarence asked them to describe what they saw around them. They said there was a series of hills off to the left and an old road grown up with bushes. He told them they were at the Indian Mounds and how to make it back to the railroad tracks by following them out to the main road. He said they made it back home without killing anything but time.

The same cousin tells of a time Uncle Clarence visited them in Vidor, Texas. My cousin took Uncle Clarence to visit with his wife’s blind grandfather, who was also there visiting. They all went shopping and left the two men together to talk. When they returned, they found the house resounding with tickled laughter from both men. When asked why, they said they got to talking about what would happen if the house caught fire when neither one was familiar with the house. It would be the best case of the blind leading the blind they could think of.

The majority of the time my uncle was self-sufficient. Yet, there were times his blind spots required help from others, as a story my cousin tells will demonstrate. He told me his family showed up late one evening and Uncle Clarence was frying bacon for dinner. The smell filled the house, drawing the children into the kitchen. Having no need for light, my uncle was standing in a dark kitchen cooking. When they switched the light on, they could see the pack of bacon he was cooking from had green mold on it. He had been eating it all week but had no way of knowing.

Uncle Clarence got along fairly well by himself until the latter years of his life as his health declined. He died in 1983 at the age of 86 years old, having lived a full and joyful life despite his blindness.

Many of us, like my uncle, become adept at compensating for what we lack. We have learned where the puddles and the pitfalls are and, most of the time, are able to avoid them. Yet, at times, we are unable to see the green mold that is right in front of us. We call those blind spots and we all have them. At times, we are unaware of their existence. Other times, we pretend they are not there. More often that not, everyone around us can see them, but we fail to recognize them in ourselves. By the time they are exposed, they have affected our relationships, careers, marriages, and other aspects of our lives in negative ways.

As in the Aesop fable, The Blind Man and the Lame Man, we can help each other complete our journey, in love with grace and mercy. We can listen to others who can see traits in us we cannot see, whether positive or negative. We can take advantage of their vantage point, not as a springboard for anger, but as a mirror for self-reflection. We can allow the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and shine a light on the things we cannot see in ourselves, the things which we must repent. When we allow an examination of the heart , rather than living with blind spots, we will be living in the light of truth.

Psalm 139: 23-24 – Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!