Recurrent Breast Cancer

Sunday, June 10, 2012


Sometimes handicapped people not only adapt to a disease or disability, but rise above it and thrive with it. One of my sightless patients came to my clinic for a foot injury. An x-ray showed no fracture. However, I was amazed that this fellow could move about from the waiting room to exam room, and to the front desk with no assistance other than his white cane. When I went home that evening, I consulted my thesaurus regarding the word, "see." There were more than twenty words associated with seeing, including foresight, hindsight, view, gaze, survey, scrutinize, and ruminate. Sometimes we use the expression, "you don't see what I'm trying to explain to you," which some may interpret, "there's something wrong about your belief/standard/thinking process." In my opinion, loading a conviction with a sight word may hinder communication, unless you're careful to ferret out the the other person's beliefs and values. Let's consider Ray Charles Robinson, born 1930 in Albany, Georgia. He was diagnosed blind at age seven. Despite his handicap and mother's death, Ray learned piano at age fifteen at a state school for the blind.Through adolescence, adulthood, and old age, he built a career that combined pop, country, rhythm and blues, gospel, and jazz. He overcame a heroin addiction, and before he died in 2004, Ray recorded a song, "We Are The World" for USA for Africa. How well do you see?   When you communicate with others, do you take time and effort to listen and envision their point of view?  If so, you might not only gain new friends, but open a new pathway that will provide animation, revived spirit, deeper understanding, and added satisfaction in your life.
 "A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience."  Oliver Wendell Holmes.