I had an unusual experience yesterday. As I was coming into downtown, off the freeway and onto 6th Street, I noticed a blind person being helped around a delivery truck so she could cross the street. Nothing unusual, but I noticed it.
I went just one more block and there was another blind woman crossing the street. After she got to the far corner, she shortened up her “cane” (I’m not even sure what you call it) and begun walking down the sidewalk, quite confidently, without using it. Cool, I thought.
I literally went to the next corner (now I’m at Nicollet Mall – and oddly, hitting every red light) and there to my left are two blind people. One seems to be talking to the other so I roll down my window. While both are blind, one seems to be helping the other learn to cross the street. I can hear the younger woman say that she knew the corner from when she had sight but she felt scared relying on her hearing. The older man, put his arm around her and reminded her what a beautiful day it was and how nice it was to be outside. “Don’t worry,” he said. They then crossed the street in front of me. I, as you can imagine after all these blogs, started to cry.
How lucky I am. How quickly I take for granted the ability to see, hear and just move. How many people are out there who have, what I might deem, less than me, yet are incredibly happy? Frankly, who am I to judge more or less? Don’t we all know people who have “more” but are unhappy and those how have “less” but are very happy?
When my sons was 8 and my daughter, 10, we were downhill skiing and on the chair lift one of the boys turned to me and said, “Mom, I guess we’re Muggles.” (normal people, from Harry Potter). I said, “You’re right, we just don’t have the magical power of Pure-Bloods.” The other turned to me and smiled, “Well, we might be Muggles but we have the power of LOVE.” “Yes,” they all agreed – we have the power of love. That’s the attitude I want them to have!
Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by how much I could be doing out there in the world, but am not. Doesn’t that ever happen to you? Don’t you ever just step back and wish you could help everyone — just do more? How wonderful that man was, helping the young woman walk down the Mall and how happy he seemed while doing it.
I have no particular direction for this blog post, nor am I sure why I happened to see what I saw yesterday. But it reminded me to put my life in perspective. To appreciate what I have today. Maybe it will do something for you too.
Have a wonderful day of feeling thankful!
theyearof50 