OUR COMMON BLINDNESS

There is only one thing we can say of some things. If a man should ask about what rice tastes like, we can only say that rice tastes like rice. There is only one thing we can immediately all say of some things even if there are other things that could be said of them. If someone should ask about fire, we would all say that it is hot, before we would begin to think about describing its brightness or form.

Several times our judgement of events and things is based on that one thing that could be said of things even when there are other things that could be said of them. If we only speak of man's inability to breathe in water, it would be ludicrous to call water evil without also speaking of its use in quenching thirst, washing, and cleaning. Well enough for the most part we do not limit to one what we think of things, neither do we shrink our sense of proportionality without which one might say that drugs are evil only because a patient had taken an overdose.

However, in life we are wont to make categorical statements on how bad a person is, or how terrible a consort one could be for another, just by the one thing we wish to say about them, even if that is not the most visible attribute of them. It could be true to say that your teacher nags, but it would be improper to allow your listener to assume that your teacher is a bad teacher if there are numerous redeeming qualities in your teacher more visible than the nagging.

We have demonized our brothers and sisters before our children (their nieces and nephews) on the premise of the one bad thing that could be said of them, even when there are numerous other qualities that would make them so proper.

This here is where we imagine the deaf DJ and the blind cook, each has a great handicap especially relevant in the field to which they claim expertise. How would the deaf DJ appreciate his own mix, so as to spin the right disks and make the best beats and tunes? How would the blind cook avoid adding inadequate or excessive amount of salt or pepper? The truth is that in our lives we are blessed with specific gifts and specific handicaps, I believe life is so designed such that the deaf DJ would hear with the ears of the blind cook, and that the blind cook would see with the eyes of the deaf DJ. I believe that life is set up to be a web of continuous co-operation where our weaknesses are neutralized by the strengths of others.

As long as we continue to denigrate the blindness, the deafness, the dumbness, the lameness and the one handicap of one another we might not understand the need to complement and to complete one another. We need this understanding in our homes, among children of the same parents, workers in the same office, husband and wife, the clergy and laity, among others, so that we can all see, so that we can all hear, so that we can all talk, so that we can all walk and rise to a more prosperous existence.

Okwuchukwu Augustine Ndulue is my name.