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07/20/2005 11:22:43 AM · #1 |
what would you do?
would you try to see more? would you shoot more? would you read more? would you watch more?
what would you do if you suddenly found out that every moment you have, you are one minute closer to not being able to ever see again?
[no, i am not going blind; but, i did contract pink-eye, and that's what got me to wondering.]
i will set my alarm clock an hour earlier.
i will take my dogs for a swim at daybreak.
i will laugh when my kids piss me off.
i will look a moment longer at my wife while she sleeps.
i will not look in the mirror except to make sure i'm semi-presentable.
i will pull the car off to the side of the road every chance i get.
what would you do? |
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07/20/2005 11:32:37 AM · #2 |
| I don't know what I will do. I think I may be, or at least my eyes are getting real shitty real fast. 6 years ago I could read a fine print book for hours by candle light. Now I can't even read a newspaper by daylight. About 2 years ago I threw away almost all the slides I took on a trip to Italy because I thought they were blurry. A few months later I bought a pair of reading glasses and found out it was just my eyes that were blurry. |
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07/20/2005 11:36:34 AM · #3 |
Originally posted by skiprow:
[no, i am not going blind; but, i did contract pink-eye, and that's what got me to wondering.) |
Been there brother, some things really ain't pretty in pink. I had it last year in both eyes - quite the disaster.
If I were going blind I'd see my family one last time then stand on top of a hill overlooking the ocean. Das about it really. |
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07/20/2005 11:37:14 AM · #4 |
I'd look at the faces of those I love...
(welcome back M.) |
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07/20/2005 11:38:38 AM · #5 |
ide have someone take me to go meet pink floyd
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07/20/2005 11:40:17 AM · #6 |
I'd go into serious depression, since I'm already totally deaf and if I went blind I'd be 100% out of communication as well as out of sight. It's something I worry about all the time in a low-level sense. I don't obsess about it or anything (what would be the point?) but it's a concern.
R.
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07/20/2005 11:53:20 AM · #7 |
I guess I would do just what I've been doing. I have an inherited eye disease that causes visual disability and will eventaully lead to blindness. It's called Retinis Pigmentosa, or RP for short. My mother and one of my older brothers is legally blind already. So far I'm doing pretty well and can even see well enough to drive at night. But, that will not last.
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07/20/2005 12:03:55 PM · #8 |
I'd quit my job and go see all the things I've always wanted to see, hike to all the places I ever wanted to hike to and see all the people I care about.
Message edited by author 2005-07-20 12:04:08.
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07/20/2005 12:21:38 PM · #9 |
Hmm, great question...I have a few responses:
1) I'm sad about my wife. She has a really rough version of diabetes, can't drive at night anymore and could lose her vision over the years. I'm sad at the thought of not showing her images or sharing beautiful views with her. Anyhow...
2) I have always said that I would rather lose my seeing than hearing because music has been (by far) my first love all of my life. Now, I'm to the point where I'm not as sure of that anymore. Which would I rather keep, now that I'm learning to really see?
3) Things I would do if I had one year of sight left.
- I would watch better television/movies...but much much less.
- I'd look at my wife a lot and begin to learn how to read her beautiful face with my fingers
- I'd quit my job and visit Africa, Iceland, New Zealand, Brazil, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and Thailand with Marnie
- I would take much fewer photos and would begin to start documenting sound once I was blind
- I would try and get a job in radio...I'm now addicted to telling people's stories, so I'd have to find an alternate way to do that.
Message edited by author 2005-07-20 12:23:24. |
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07/20/2005 12:29:25 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by thatcloudthere:
I have always said that I would rather lose my seeing than hearing because music has been (by far) my first love all of my life. |
There have been several studies that show, overwhelmingly, that given the choice people would prefer to lose their sight than their hearing.
R.
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07/20/2005 12:38:06 PM · #11 |
hmm... interesting subject as it impacts me personally.
Ok... I'm not going blind, but I am going deaf (Menieres), and I've been a musician for almost 30 yrs now. I find it interesting...it seems to me that the responses from people who are actually experiencing some kind of sensory loss are different from the others.
No I wouldn't quit my job and go travel... I mean yeah maybe if I was rich that would be ok, but in my case I have a family to suport and realistically you can't live on peanuts.
What people don't understand is that by the time one knows they're going blind or deaf or whatever, they're already experiencing major loss of quality (not just quantity) in their vision/hearing. I've played piano for 30 yrs... I can stil "hear" with a hearing aid, but to me this is not hearing... it's crap at best with all the distortion (btw distortion is not from hearing aid), so I pretty much don't listen to music... I just play for others since they seem to enjoy it. So far it seems like my strategy has been to shift to another medium where I can express my artistic side, like photography, so if I was going blind and I didn't have hearing problems, I might switch to music or something like that... but I don't think I'd change much... like micknewton says: "I would just do what I've been doing". Live the life I was given to live. There's plenty of folks out there who have it worse. |
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07/20/2005 12:40:55 PM · #12 |
Everyday I watch the sun rise and set cuz you never know what can happen. This way you will always be able to remember what it looked like.
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07/20/2005 12:40:58 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by bear_music:
Originally posted by thatcloudthere:
I have always said that I would rather lose my seeing than hearing because music has been (by far) my first love all of my life. |
There have been several studies that show, overwhelmingly, that given the choice people would prefer to lose their sight than their hearing.
R. |
Yeah, I figured...but they probably listened to the radio or whatever was on the top 10! I absolutely love good, creative, heart-moving music! |
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07/20/2005 12:49:53 PM · #14 |
My uncle was recently diagnosed with macular degeneration and has been undergoing extensive treatment. His vision has become extremely limited and after each treatment, he's relegated to the dark basement where he has to stay for a week to ten days. He and my aunt have been taking a number of trips on short notice now (Scotland, Ireland, etc.) while he can still see some, but, once an avid reader, he can no longer read or drive, etc.
In addition to making me think about what I would do if I knew I was eventually going to be blind, it's gotten me thinking about whether it would be better to be blind now and know that I would be for the rest of my life, or to retire, expecting to do all the things I'd wanted to do throughout my lifetime and suddenly not be able to. I know that I would miss more throughout my life if I were to be blind now, but at least I wouldn't be looking forward to a certain point and have that taken away from me. I guess the lesson is to not put things off and not build retirement into the only opportunity of my life.
(As an aside, this is one of my (not greatest but still present) fears of mine - that I will work my entire life and have something happen to me just as I retire. A coworker of mine had a friend who had worked extremely hard his whole life and had just retired and bought the Winnebego of his dreams and he and his wife, to whom he was newly married, were going to travel across country for the remainder of their time. That had been his lifelong dream. The night before they were to leave, he tripped over the cat and fell down the basement stairs, breaking his neck and becoming paralyzed.)
But anyway, about the actual question. I'd travel a lot. I've traveled quite a bit within the US but have very limited travel experience elsewhere and there's a long list of places I'd like to see. I'd hand write more letters because I think those are important. I'd keep taking photos, even though I eventually wouldn't be able to see them because I think photography is about capturing moments in life that would otherwise disappear and those moments would still be left for other people. I'd read a lot. Books read in other people's voices are never as right as they are when read in my head. I'd spend more time outdoors. I'd get rid of my computer. I'd people watch. I'd drive a lot. I'd start looking for potholes and low hanging branches in the places I frequented.
And really, I'd probably feel pretty sorry for myself because it wouldn't be much fun to go blind. |
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07/20/2005 12:54:26 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by WhidbeyPix:
... but I don't think I'd change much... like micknewton says: "I would just do what I've been doing". Live the life I was given to live. There's plenty of folks out there who have it worse. |
Some interesting points. I think, in general, these sorts of questions aren't really about what we would do if were to happen, but a reminder of what we ought to be doing now because we can. And what we ought to be appreciating that we are instead taking for granted. |
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07/20/2005 12:55:14 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by mk:
I guess the lesson is to not put things off and not build retirement into the only opportunity of my life.
(As an aside, this is one of my (not greatest but still present) fears of mine - that I will work my entire life and have something happen to me just as I retire. |
Oddly, this is exactly what I've done my whole life; taken my retirement a week here, a week there, a month or two here and there, constantly. I have lived on (mostly) barely adequate income, but I've "experienced" a hell of a lot and I have few regrets, none of them serious.
Robt.
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07/20/2005 12:58:13 PM · #17 |
But that is happening now - every minute that goes by we all are one minute closer to not being able to see. It is the ultimate blindness - death.
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07/20/2005 01:02:31 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by Alienyst:
But that is happening now - every minute that goes by we all are one minute closer to not being able to see. It is the ultimate blindness - death. |
It sounds good at first, but death is more than that, friend. No sight, no sound, no touch, no love, no hate, no hope, no despair, nothing. Not on this earth and in this body, anyway. But to be blind, or to be deaf, is to be on this earth yet not entirely OF it. It's a qualitative difference, and it's not to be minimized by philosophical abstractions, at least IMO. It's real, it's immediate, it's permanent, and some of us live it every day of our lives.
Not getting on your case, btw, I have no objection to your interesting statement; I just have a different POV on this, I guess.
Robt.
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07/20/2005 01:04:14 PM · #19 |
| I'd thank God I'm a musician as well as a photographer. |
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07/20/2005 01:13:10 PM · #20 |
| I would memorize every little detail on my daughter's faces and I would cry everyday knowing that I wouldn't be able to see them get married or see what my grandchildren look like. |
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07/20/2005 01:22:04 PM · #21 |
Good point Alienyst... except when we're dead we probably won't be missing our eyesight and most likely won't care what our kids or spouses look like. So there is a difference.
Seize the day!
Ephesians 5:16 (paraphrased) |
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07/20/2005 01:37:15 PM · #22 |
As an artist it would probably kill me. Take my legs, take my sense of smell, take my hearing. But my eyes that I don't think I could live with. I am addicted to beauty. I couldn't imagine not being able to see the canvas, not watching the smiles on a childs face, not watching a suset over the beach. I can alway read lips, I can always read the lyrics, but to loose my eyes now that would be horrifying.
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07/20/2005 01:47:54 PM · #23 |
if you can, now, try this wherever you are...
put the base of your hands high up on your cheeks and let the palms of your hands tightly cup your eye sockets so that even with your eyes open, you cannot see. see how long you can hold them there...
these are all good points, and a great discussion. i tend to think like mick, making the most of what i have to work with, and not dwelling too much on what i don't have. i will try to see more, being that i am now able to, and i probably will try to shoot more, if just to leave something for others to be able to see what i saw--and hopefully they'll vicariously experience it.
and i really like bears idea of living retired all along...need to find a way to make that work, and get my kids to college... |
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07/20/2005 02:11:49 PM · #24 |
I would probably go blind, and then deal with it like I do anything else.
I seriously doubt I'd live my life any differently than I already do, with the exception of working with my doctor to see what could be done to prevent it, if anything.
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07/20/2005 02:26:56 PM · #25 |
When I was in collage I went from perfect sight in my left eye to not being able to read the license plate of the car parked in front of me in about a weeks time. Test showed that there was severe bleeding from the retina, a problem seen most often in diabetics (which I am not) or from head trauma (which I didn't have). By the time we'd figured this out I'd lost about a third of the sight in my eye. Treatment: a shot of cortisone into the back of my eye, one a week for 6 weeks. This isn't a painful as you might think -- just scary as hell. Getting up the courage to go back in week after week was the hardest thing to do. But back then my choice was to face the weekly shot or the possibility of losing my eye sight in that eye. Now a days they treat this with lasers and it's all done in about 20 minutes. At the last check up the doctor said my eye was fine except I'm showing signs of "over 40 eyes." I can deal with that!
Last fall I was giving a presentation to about 75 people. Afterwards, an acquaintance came up to me and said she's rather have needles stuck in her eyes than talk in front of that many people. I just smiled.
Never take ANYTHING for granted! |
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