Two Eyes Are Better Than One
I always took Grandpa Spencer’s advice seriously and accepted
his point of view, but once on the telephone he asked, “Oh Pamela, how can you
say you miss seeing out of two eyes when you have never seen anything with your
right eye?” While silence ringed, I squeezed my lips to hold back the answer.
Oh, how I wanted to yell. Instead I thought it best to say it under my breath.
“I know two eyes are better than one.”
I clutched the phone and took a deep breath, “Grandpa, please
understand. I do know what I’m missing.” I switched my weight from one foot to
the other and went on, “When people walk by me they disappear and we often bump
and when I turn to say, “Sorry,” I receive a look of, “what is wrong with you?”
Grandpa still tried to persuade me. “If you have never seen
out of your right eye, how can you miss vision you have never had and furthermore,
how can vision in two eyes be any different than having vision in one?”
Grandpa’s question of twenty years ago still haunts me. If he
only understood how I feel. I compare my blind eye to a butterfly’s broken
wing. Both the broken wing and broken eye limit living life to the fullest. The
butterfly can’t fly to get a complete picture of the scenery and I can’t see
the world in the way others see with two eyes. I was ashamed to reveal to
Grandpa that I was given the label amongst my schoolmates as the, “one eyed
freak,” because my blind eye moves as it chooses.
Never will I forget my elementary PE class we were divided
into two groups. I stood with my head down, feet close together. I knew the
team leaders wouldn’t want me on their team. With my eyesight the way it was, I
couldn’t gauge when to kick or hit the ball with a bat. All the kids knew I
couldn’t score a point for the team.
Now, as an adult, I still realize not having vision in two
eyes has limited my possibilities. Blind is the way God made me. I don’t want
anyone to feel sorry for me. I just want them to understand one eye is not a complete
picture of the world they see.
Is it wrong of me to feel that my glass is half empty? Is it
wrong for me to want vision in two eyes? Is it wrong for me to want to see the
world like everyone else?
If only we could see each other’s trials with the same eyes,
same view, we would see that each of us is faced with some type of emotional,
physical, social or spiritual limitation. We all desire to achieve our full
potential. At least I do.
So if you meet someone like me, know they want to see the
world just like you do with two eyes, because they also know, “two eyes are better than one.”
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