The Blind Man Sees

The Blind Man Sees
By Shawn Tedrow

It's amazing to live in my neighborhood, listening and watching life dancing to its drum beat each day. In the early morning, the sounds of birds chirping can be heard. Then the sound of my neighbor’s car starting is received within my mind’s ear, as he heads to work. Before you know it the whole neighborhood is up and alive to its rhythmic movement, with seagulls squawking, carpenters working, the mail man making deliveries. Within all this seemingly fluxing activity, there are repeating patterns that appear in my neighborhood.

Some pass by each day somewhat ho hum and unnoticed. There are others though, that become more than the norm, and shine with luster. Life’s moments can be uninteresting and ordinary or transform to sparkling stars of wonder. Many times we hold the key to unlock this metamorphose that life offers.

One such pattern that appears to me from time to time is a blind man walking the streets of my neighborhood. I know it is probably not polite to stare at a blind man, but I can't help myself with this amazing man. He is so good at what he does. I have always felt like I wanted to talk to him and connect in some way.

He walks with a cane, and mysteriously navigates his way through the neighborhood. I watch him waiting at intersections with chaotic traffic moving everywhere, and observe that his keen insightful perception is very extraordinary. How does he know when to walk across to the other side? I don’t know, but I know he KNOWS. With such confidence and gracefulness he walks with cane in hand, across the street in step with perfecto-timing.

One day I saw him outside in front of our neighborhood supermarket. I was walking behind him on a narrow cement walkway alongside the storefront and all of a sudden he was struggling to find his way. An employee of this supermarket unknowingly threw a change-up on this man. They had a bunch of shopping carts lined up on this narrow walkway, which only allowed for a very tight squeeze of a path between the shopping carts and the front bumpers of the cars that were parked.

While walking behind him and facing his back, in assistance, I spoke out and explained to him what he was facing. He got the picture, so to speak, of what I had said, and there he went down this very tight squeeze of a path as if he did this before one hundred times.

I wanted to say something to him about how impressed I was, but was worried that I might offend him. Or was this about my ego-identity not wanting to feel shamed for making an inappropriate statement? I remember when I was a little child; never did I wrestle with second guessing myself like this. I just spoke my innocent mind.

I struggled within, and then said to myself, just do it Shawn, tell him how you feel and damn the consequences. I was so tired of not taking on risk, and giving into not being adventurous, for the sake of protecting my self-image.

So I told him, “I have seen you in the neighborhood for years and I just want you to know that you are damn good at what you do”.

He then turned around to me with his face gleaming with such beauty and love. I could feel the presence of a very special person glowing through his body. He then said back to me with the biggest grin, “Yes, I can even do this in the dark of the night”.

Wow! Because this man had lost his eye sight, he gained an inconceivable intuitive insight within, and lived his life there. In the dark, he could actually see way better than me. I would probably need his assistance during a time of a blackout night. Maybe all of the time he could see better than me!

Later, these words of Lao Tzu came to mind:

Colors blind the eye.

I am so glad that I turned the key and unlocked the door of life’s wonders, with taking on risk, through stepping outside of myself, by speaking my true heart’s feelings, to this special man that lives in my neighborhood.

You can check out Shawn's other musings here.