How many things we overlook, or fail to appreciate, in our lives. Things that are always there, that we take for granted, and only truly value when we no longer have them, when they are missing.
Almost a month ago, my mother had eye surgery. She had always suffered from short sightedness and back then, when she was a child, many things were overlooked; in many cases, parents didn’t even make their children wear glasses. People just got on with seeing as best they could. In my mother’s case, due to prejudice or misguided beliefs, her father thought that not being able to see, or seeing poorly, was a disability. For his only daughter to have a disability… that was unthinkable.
That is why my mother didn’t get her first pair of glasses until she was 32. Before that… she saw as best she could, sitting at the front of the class and making do with what she could see. I won’t judge anyone; we are all a collection of conditioning and beliefs. But often that conditioning and those beliefs are mistaken and can cause harm to another person. Of course, we never know the full extent of our beliefs. We may think we are doing good, when in reality we are causing harm to another. Every life is different and every person’s path is different.
Now, following her cataract operation, my mother can see. For the first time, she can see clearly and without glasses in one eye. Before, she couldn’t make out the edges of the steps on a staircase, nor the outlines or details of faces, the edges of the leaves on the trees; even the colours look different to her now, sharper, the bright ones more… vivid.
I often find her closing one eye and opening the other to compare, and she smiles as she admires the beauty. She is moved by seeing things, the simplest things in life, like a colour, the street lights at night. Before, everything was a haze.
In two weeks’ time she’ll have a date for the operation on her other eye. Her life has changed, because she sees life. I’ve always had excellent eyesight and perhaps I don’t know what she’s been through, but I do know the value of being able to see a flower, the faces of the people I love, the way my cats blink, to see their soft, shiny fur, to see the details of a piece of fruit, of art… of so many things.
Whilst it is important to see and keep our eyes open in every sense, seeing in the literal sense is wonderful, something we overlook because it is something we do not pay attention to. But for someone who has never seen properly or for a blind person, seeing is the most absolute wonder in the world.
There are many wonders in the world, buildings, natural landscapes, creations, but without our sense of sight, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate them. So what, then, is the true wonder of the world? I believe it is seeing, seeing every little detail. Of course, the same applies to the other senses. What use is everything we might possess if we cannot see it… none at all.
The simplest, or seemingly simplest, things in life are the most important. I hope that one day all human beings will realise this. Everything would be so much better.
Thank you very much to everyone for reading today; I wish you all a very good weekend. See you soon.
Amonet.
Used translator Deepl.com free version.
