Blinded by the fight…

Posted by danielle on Dec 17, 2011 | 2 comments

I know, I know, just last week I was talking about seeing and here I am talking about it again.  You are probably starting to think that I’m visually obsessed.  That’s okay, maybe I am.  You see, I’m a highly visual person particularly when it comes to learning something new.  When watching a technique being demonstrated, I typically snapshot a moment in time then proceed to break it apart.  I look at the static moment and observe how the body is positioned and how the attacker and defender are positioned relative to one another in space at a minimum.  I ask myself how do I get there, how do I make that happen.  So yes, I’m a bit visually obsessed because it’s my greatest asset in learning.

On occasion though I stop to consider the implications of not being able to see, of what it would mean if I were to go blind.  Now I don’t do this because I’m a pessimist, because a pessimist is one thing I definitely am not.  I do this to try and understand just how different my world might be.  As a software engineer, how would I continue to do my job?  In terms of hobbies, would I have to give up photography?  How could I continue to train in this art?  What would happen to me in a physical altercation?  These reflecting questions may seem silly on the larger scale to most, but on a smaller scale might you lose your sight in the course of a fight?  What if it were dark?  What if your assailant used mace or pepper spray?  And even if it were light and you weren’t blinded by your attacker, might you lose your vision if you withdraw internally?

What I’ve discovered this week in working through some exercises with Joe and Dennis, is that my world would be, without a doubt, radically different.  That difference, however, would make my world no less complete and I no less capable in the long run.  I could continue at my job through the use of assistive technologies.  I could, surprisingly, still take great photographs.  I would be able to continue to train because my teachers are wonderfully adaptive.  And if I did find myself a physical fight, with some further training, I would have the capacity to use other senses to “see”  perhaps even more clearly than if I had visual sight. 

A couple of weeks ago, Stacy posited the question of how to describe a sunset to someone who has been blind since birth.  After my experiences this week, I would now ask the question in reverse:  How would someone who has never had sight describe the same sunset?  Would their colors be that of sound—the quieting of the day, the sounds of night creeping in?  Would the receding rays fading warmth be their glow through the clouds?  Would a less sighted person perhaps be more in tune with the moment, experiencing it with their being more fully then that of a person with sight?

It is natural to cling to and rely on those things which serve us well.  Our strengths are bound by our accomplishments, to our sense of being or doing things right or well.  But perhaps our strengths can also be our weaknesses, limiting our view of our own experiences and blinding us to greater possibilities.  If you were to let go of your greatest strength, not fighting to retain it and struggle through your perceived weaknesses, would your depth of experience increase?  How much more would you be able to “see?”

Danielle DeBlois
SMAC Student