HOW TO LEARN TOLERANCE

 

You sit through a movie you happened to find as you are turning the TV. It’s a great movie. Wonder what the name of it is.

You sit through previews for the next movies they are going to show but you know you may not be able to find them since you don’t know what channel it is either.  

I guess the bottom line is that most people would just think if you can’t see the TV who would need one.

 

Your MD calls to say  he called in a prescription your child should start taking right away; you forgot to buy flour for the dinner recipe you were fixing for tonight; the dog or cat needs to get to the vet; you find out you forgot to pay the bill that is due tomorrow.

You can do none of those things because you can only schedule a cab for the day BEFORE you need it.

You call and schedule whatever you need for tomorrow.

The cab or van picks you up but you must get out of the vehicle and go inside. Once your errand is taken care of, you must go outside and wait for another vehicle to come pick you up, even if the errand took less than five minutes.

Heaven forbid you want to get to two places in one day.

 

Someone comes in to set up your modem for high-speed internet. You offer to turn off your screen reader so it doesn’t interfere with what he needs to do. He says he can take care of it. He leaves and you find out that instead of turning off your computer screen reader he muted the entire computer sound. Of course you have no way to turn it back on. You call him back to take care of it but the internet provider says you’ll have to set up another service call.

 

It’s a rainy day and your dog chooses to use the carpet as his potty place … but … where ?

There’s a bee in your house … but where?

There’s a hole hidden by the grass, oops   … right there!

 

You have a great friend who is committed to taking you to the grocery store every week. I hope everyone has a friend or family like that. Anyway, you get in the car, in the store and pull out the list for her that you have printed up. You didn’t know you were out of ink.

 

You can see a large TV picture, but nothing as small as the lighted numbers or colors on a cable box.  You try to call your service for help only to get someone who will not help you because you can’t see the lighted numbers or colors on a cable box.   

 

He’s the foreman for a tree servicing company and immediately gives his crew instructions on where to begin as he walks up to the door of the house. Just as he starts to put his hand  over the doorbell button a door opens, a lady seems to peer out at him, then immediately closes the door in his face. Why? He wonders.

Inside the house a blind lady hears saws outside. Her neighbors had a tree fall in their house the other day so she goes to the door to try to figure out if the saws are in her yard or in her neighbor’s yard. She slightly opens the door and hears the saws just outside so she closes the door, not realizing a man was standing there.

What happened? He rang the bell, she apologized, and later told me this story.

 

You are young, have some sight but not enough to read the church hymnal. You stand there holding the book, then the pew member standing beside you has no hymnal so she leans over to read along with you. She takes the book from your hands, turns it right side up and gives it back.

 

There are a few answers to some of these little imperfections. First of all, there is now an app that goes with my TV internet service which I am able to use to navigate channels etc.

I have learned to try to remember things I might need tomorrow, mostly making notes so I won’t forget. Should an unexpected emergency pop up I thank God for my family and friends, though I try very hard not to take advantage of their good natures. One never knows when a real crisis could occur so never overuse those who are available to call, and realize things could be worse; you could live somewhere where there’s no transportation provided at all.

Some things just happen and they surely must happen to teach blind people how to sort out what is really a crisis and what is just something to smile about later.

Church hymnals? That’s a pride thing; you’ll grow out of it, or, maybe you’ll go to a church that uses overheads and sings songs with so much repetition everybody will think how cool it is that you know the words.

There are so many things to be thankful for I try to never waste my time thinking of things that aren’t. Today is a sad day for America as we realize violence lives in the hearts of many. Sometimes I feel frightened walking with my dog, very vulnerable in an open space alone. All I know to do about that is pray for God’s protection and remember the words “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me.”  

 And today I wrote this little note hoping to get at least one more person besides myself to smile.