The ability to see is one I’m sure I’ve taken for granted many times.
My grandfather had macular degeneration and after a time, would only ask as I was walking toward him “is that my favorite Katie?”. Not until I grew older would I understand that he couldn’t tell with his eyes, which grandchild I was. He memorized the streets in downtown Chicago and somehow managed to still navigate through them by himself. He may have been loosing his ability to see physically, but his will to still operate as a “seeing” man never gave out.
But I’m not here to tell you about the great will of my grandfather, or the incredible services he found to help him in his blindness, but rather to realize the many things in which though physically I could see, I still have been so blind.
I trust many people have experiences like these, ways in which we either don’t see, or don’t want to see certain aspects of ourselves or our lives. I met a man once who though he was very hurt at a young age, couldn’t see how those deep wounds affected his daily life and stifled him. I met a woman once who couldn’t see how much her children loved her, even though they lived down the street and she claimed they were so negligent. For myself, I usually have a hard time seeing the ways in which my habits effect my health (most of the time maybe I “see it” but don’t want to acknowledge, haha)
Maya Angelou said “We are only as blind as we want to be” and she’s right. If we take the time to step back, to acknowledge, to carefully (and sometimes painfully) see the reality of either myself or my life, how much more will we be able to grow?
This week… a journey into the land of seeing… Looking long and hard into the mirror in front of us for the sake of moving forward, of healing, of changing, of blossoming into something that could not grow before, because I was so blind.