The Blind Man

A middle-aged man was catching an early flight from New York to Chicago one December night. As he waited in the small airport cafe, he considered the state of his life. Here he was, 45 years old, married with two children, one of the most financially secure and successful people he knew, and he was catching a 4 AM airplane to ensure a business deal did not fall through and cost his company vast sums of money. The sun was not even up yet, would not be up for another hour or so. All of his life's work culminated at this moment to this business deal. After all of the years at college, law school, his short career as an officer in the military, the hard work of raising a family and nurturing a marriage, he was entirely certain that one small event could crash all of it. It frayed his nerves to no end. For weeks he had not slept. His wife was furious for his hours at the office, he had missed all of his son's baseball games, and to top it all off he thought he was developing an ulcer. How on earth had his life got so out of hand?

As he stared around the diner, he noted that it only had one other occupant besides the waitress. At the furthest table in the back sat a man who stared straight ahead with his hands on the table. The businessman, a naturally curious man, adjusted to get a better look. It appeared as though the man were rubbing his hands on the table top. Taking the last sip of his drink, the businessman got up and walked toward the man.

Halfway there, he saw the walking stick. Checkered white and red with a rubbery grip, he knew immediately what it was. Feeling a bit sheepish, the businessman turned and began to head out of the cafe.

"You wanted something?" said a deep voice behind him. He turned and realized the blind man was speaking to him. His hands had stopped caressing the book he had laying on the table, obviously written in braille. The businessman chuckled and said "Just wondering what you were reading, that's all."

The blind man held up the book. "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Great imagery." said the blind man, not at all sarcastic. He set the book down and began to scroll his hands again. The business man was puzzled. Great imagery? The man was blind. What did he know? The businessman had been on some of the most amazing trips around the world, seen some of the most fantastic things Mother Nature had to offer. However, this man (unless he had been blinded by some accident) knew nothing of what the world looked like. How could he relate to the pictures of the sea, fantastic beasts, even the colors and shapes of such things?

The blind man stopped his hands. Suddenly, a sly smile crossed his lips. "Most people get a kick out of that one, you know. 'What do you know about sight? You were born without your eyes.' Course, I always set them straight."

The businessman was intrigued. "How so?" he asked, taking a few stepscloser to the blind man. The blind man looked directly at him. The businessman saw no evidence of scarring or damage, so he wondered how the blind man had lost his sight.

"It doesn't matter whether I have seen the ocean, felt the touch of the sea, or even ridden on a boat. There are some things a human being instinctively knows. Now, granted, I have done all those (haven't always been blind) but the point is people jump to their conclusions before they really understand the situation." The blind man smiled wider. "Take you for instance. I could say that something is wrong just by the shuffle of your step, the way you are breathing, and the disgruntled way you asked for coffee, but I may be jumping to conclusions, right?"

The businessman inwardly groaned. Had he been that obvious? "Just some trouble at work." The blind man nodded thoughtfully. "Should have figured that. Business tycoon of some sort huh? Or a lawyer?" The businessman was impressed. "How did you know?" The blind man nodded toward his briefcase. "Heard you set that down. Sounded like it weighed a thousand pounds. Probably feel like you got the weight of the world on your shoulders."

The businessman and the blind man gradually slipped into steady conversation. Before he knew it, the tired traveler was telling his life story to the blind man. He felt as though this "disabled" fellow was more capable than half of the people who worked in his office. He had correctly surmised the businessman's situation from a distance just by the way he talked and the sounds he made. The businessman was amazed at the wisdom in the man's features. They were around the same age, but the blind man reminded the businessman of some ancient monk who had decades of experience. The blind man told him stories of his life. Serving as an infantryman and losing friends, running an automotive shop for years until the city decided to shut it down to build a strip mall, losing all of his most beloved in a car crash, and eventually losing his eyes to a hereditary disease. The businessman was flabbergasted at how the blind man spoke of it all with quiet understanding and even without regret. He knew that if he were in those situations, he would have let himself go completely. Yet here this guy was, well groomed (if wearing ordinary cheap clothes) and talking about horrible circumstances without the slightest trace of anger or disappointment.

"How do you do it?" the businessman asked. "How can you sit here and read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and enjoy the imagery? I barely can keep myself together from one day to the next."

The blind man looked at him and told him simply this. "I take the time to stop and experience it. The thing about people like you is you are so caught up in your lives that you never take the time to really enjoy them. When was the last time you stopped to appreciate a sunrise? Took a second to really listen to the lyrics of a song? Just stood outside and felt the fresh air on your skin? Bet it has been a while..."

"The thing with losing your sight is you eventually come to appreciate the other senses. I can't see pictures of my wife, but I remember her perfume. I can't see the ocean anymore, but I hear the cool waves lapping on the beach in the summer. I don't have money. I live at a home. I have lost my loved ones and even my ability to see. But I have never for one second stopped appreciating the beauty of what is around me. I have never once felt as though my life was not worth living. I have been able to experience so many things, and will until the day I leave this earth. I take the time to stop and smell the roses."

After that, the blind man wished the businessman a good trip, took his book and walked off. The businessman sat for a while, pondering what the blind man had said. Was he really so absorbed in his work and his career that he had failed to experience life? He realized the last time he had truly felt like life was good had been.... years ago. He suddenly felt empty and completely aware that through all of his busy days and all the time that he put in to achieve his goals, he had not accomplished anything. He remembered being a little kid and wanting to always live in the moment. Well, that ship had sunk. He had been running forward and looking ahead for so long that he did not remember what it was like to simply stop and look around. The businessman looked at his watch, and realized his flight left in ten minutes. He got up and walked briskly to the gate. Looking out the window, he stopped.

The sunrise was glinting off of the city landscape, filtering through the glass with the full spectrum of colors. He suddenly marveled at the beauty it brought, casting shadows in certain places and throwing other objects into sharp focus. He smiled to himself remembering going to the mountains in college and swimming in the sun, recalling his honeymoon with his wife in Jamaica and how the sunlight glinted on the waters, even recollections of how the sun came in through church windows at service when he was a kid. The businessman realized the blind man was absolutely right. He had been so caught up in life that he had not taken the time to really enjoy it.

Ten minutes later, just before the plane took off, he called his wife and children and told them he loved them. Then, watching the glory of the sunrise, he resolved to take the words of the blind man to heart. He closed his eyes and prayed for strength to stop and smell the roses from that day forward.