헬렌켈러
**인문학(Humanities) **
절망하는 이들에게 희망을 일깨워 주는 잡지로 잘 알려진 ‘리더스 다이제스트’가
20세기 최고 수필로 꼽았던 헬렌 켈러의 "사흘만 볼 수 있다면(Three days to see)"은 이렇게 요약된다.
‘내가 사흘만 볼 수 있다면
첫날은, 나를 가르쳐 준 고마운 앤 설리번 선생님을 찾아가 그 분의 얼굴을 보겠습니다.
그리고 하나님 주신 아름다운 꽃들과 풀과 빛나는 저녁 노을을 보고 싶습니다.
둘째 날에는, 새벽에 먼동이 터 오는 모습을 보고 싶습니다. 저녁에는 영롱하게 빛나는 별을 보겠습니다.
셋째 날에는, 아침 일찍 부지런히 출근하는 사람들의 활기찬 표정을 보고 싶습니다.
점심때는 아름다운 영화를 보고 저녁에 집에 돌아와 사흘간 눈을 뜨게 해 주신
하나님께 감사의 기도를 드리고 싶습니다.’
유럽을 제패한 황제 나폴레옹은 죽을 때
“내 생애에서 행복한 날은 6일 밖에 없었다.” 고백했다.
그러나 눈이 멀어 볼 수 없었고 귀가 먹어 들을 수 없었던 헬렌 켈러는
“내 생애 행복하지 않은 날은 단 하루도 없었다.” 말했다.
보통 사람들의 상식으로는 나폴레옹이 더 행복했을 것으로 생각되지만
행복의 척도는 생각하고 느끼는 관점에 따라 달라짐을 느끼게 하는 소중한 말이다.
1990년대 활발하게 활동하던 개그맨 이동우 씨는 2003년, 신혼의 행복에 젖어
있을 무렵 망막색소변성증이라는 희귀병 판정을 받았다.
주변의 시야가 차츰 좁아져 정상인 시력의 5%밖에 볼 수 없게 되었다.
사랑하는 아내는 물론 주변 모든 사람들의 얼굴을 볼 수 없었다.
모든 것을 포기하고 싶은 시간이 흐르기 시작했다.
그러던 어느 날,
이씨의 사연을 들은 40대 어느 남성이 눈을 기증하겠다는 의사를 밝혔다.
이씨는 기쁜 마음으로 그 남성이 산다는 천안으로 한걸음에 달려 갔다.
하지만 그는 눈을 기증 받지 않고 돌아왔다.
의아한 마음에 주변 지인이 그냥 돌아온 이유를 묻자 이씨는,
“이미 눈을 기증 받은 거나 마찬가지입니다.
그분은 저에게 세상을 보는 눈을 주셨기 때문입니다.”라고 말했다
눈을 기증하겠다는 그 남자는 ‘근육병 환자’였다. 게다가 사지(四肢)도 못 쓰는,
오직 성한 곳이라곤 눈밖에 없는 사람이었다.
이씨가 다시 입을 열었다.
“나는 하나를 잃고 나머지 아홉을 가지고 있는 사람입니다.
그분은 오직 하나 남아 있는 것마저 저에게 주려고 했습니다.
어떻게 그걸 달라고 할 수 있겠습니까 ?”
살아가다 보면 한 개를 가지면 두 개를 가지고 싶은 게 사람 욕심인데
이씨의 마음은 그렇지 않았던 것이다.
이 사연이 알려진 뒤로 그나마 다행스러웠던 것은 쉽게 자신의 곁을 떠나리라
생각했던 아내가 그의 곁을 지켜 준 일이었다.
하지만 시련은 멈추지 않았다.
생계의 많은 부분을 책임지고 있던 아내가 뇌종양으로 쓰러졌고 한쪽 귀의 청력마저 잃었다.
이씨는 시력과 일거리를 잃고, 아내는 청력과 운영하던 가게까지 잃었다.
그러나 혹독하게 짓누르는 시련에도 삶은 계속되고 희망은 싹트기 마련인지,
이들에게 세상 무엇과도 바꿀 수 없는 선물, 딸이 생겼다.
그는 아내와 딸아이와 나누는 큰 사랑으로 가슴 시린 아픔도 절망도 잘 이겨냈다.
특히 그는 아내를 통해 참된 사랑을 만났고,
그 사랑으로 다시 세상으로 나올 수 있었다고 고백했다.
가슴 뭉클했던 이 사연을 다시 떠올리며 다시금 세상 모든 것에 하나님께 감사함을 느끼게 된다.
● 아침에 눈 떴다는 사실에 하나님께 감사하고,
● 편안하게 숨 쉴 수 있음에 하나님께 감사하고,
● 내가 원하는 곳으로 걸어 갈 수 있음에 하나님께 감사하다.
● 아직도 남과 나눌 것이 남아 있음에 하나님께 감사하고,
● 어딘가 마음 기댈 곳이 있음에 하나님께 감사하고,
● 나를 아껴 주는 소중한 가족이 있음에 하나님께 감사하다.
● 따뜻한 마음을 나눌 친구가 있음에 하나님께 감사하며,
● 고마운 사람, 좋은 사람에게 안부를 전할 수 있음에 하나님께 감사하다.
● 나를 아는 모든 사람들에게 따뜻한 손을 내밀 수 있음에 더욱 하나님께 감사하다.
♥ 언제나 기도할 수 있어서 더욱 하나님께 감사하다 !
만약 내가 사흘만 볼 수 있다면
첫째 날에,
나는 친절과 상냥함과 우정으로 나의 인생을 살 만한 가치가 있는 삶으로 만들어 주었던 사람들의 모습을 보고 싶습니다.
나는 존경하는 선생님, 앤 설리번 메이시 선생님을 오랫동안 바라보고 싶습니다.
(중략)
무척 바쁜 하루가 될 거에요. 나는 소중한 친구들을 불러 그들의 얼굴을 찬찬히 바라보면서 그들 영혼의 아름다움이 밖으로 어떻게 드러났는지 그 증거들을 찾아내 마음속에 새길 것입니다. 또한 아기의 얼굴에 눈길을 머문 채 그 얼굴에서 순수하고도 간절한 아름다움을 느껴보고 싶습니다.(중략) 그리고 내가 데리고 있는 충직하고 믿음직한 개들의 눈도 들여다 보고 싶습니다.
(중략) 나는 내 집 안에 있는 작고 단순한 것들을 살펴보고 싶습니다.
이튿날, 나는 동트기 전에 일어나 밤이 낮으로 바뀌는 가슴 떨리는 기적을 바라보겠습니다.(중략)
나는 이날을 우리가 사는 이 세계의 과거와 현재가 어떻게 되어 있는지 부지런히 보는 데 쓰겠습니다.(중략)
밤은 극장이나 영화관에서 보내고 싶습니다.
(중략)
셋째 날이자 내가 볼 수 있는 마지막 날입니다.(중략) 현재 사람들이 일하며 사는 세계, 사람들이 일 때문에 자주 다니는 곳을 찾아가려 합니다.
(중략)
나는 볼 수 없는 사람이기에 볼 수 있는 여러분들에게 한 가지 귀띔을 해 줄 수 있습니다. (중략) 즉 내일 당장 장님이 될 것처럼 당신의 눈을 사용해 보세요. 그리고 다른 감각들을 사용하는 데도 똑같이 그렇게 해 보세요. 내일 귀머거리가 될 것처럼 음악 소리와 새의 노랫소리, 그리고 오케스트라의 강렬한 선율에 귀를 기울이세요. 내일 당신의 촉각이 모두 마비될 것이라 생각하고 모든 물건들을 만져 보세요. 내일부터 다시는 냄새도 맡지 못하고 맛도 못 볼 것처럼 꽃의 향기도 맡고, 한 입 한 입 음식을 맛보세요. 그렇게 모든 감각을 최대한 활용하세요.
자연이 여러 접촉 수단을 통해 당신에게 가져다주는 이 세계의 모든 즐거움과 아름다움에 하나님께 영광을 돌리세요.
그렇지만 확신하건대, 모든 감각들 가운데 볼 수 없다는 것 이상으로 우리에게 큰 기쁨을 주는 것은 없습니다.
-헬렌 켈러- 헬렌 켈러가 53살에 쓴 글로, 미국의 《어틀랜틱 먼슬리》에 실렸다.
- 내가 만일
사흘 동안 세상을 볼 수 있다면 -
첫째 날에는
친절과 겸손과 우정으로
내 삶을 가치있게 해준 사람들을
보고 싶습니다.
먼저,
어린 시절 내게 다가와
바깥 세상을 활짝 열어 보여주신
사랑하는 앤 설리번 선생님의 얼굴을
오랫동안 바라보고 싶습니다.
선생님의 얼굴 윤곽만 보고
기억하는데 그치지 않고
그것을 꼼꼼히 연구해서
나같은 사람을 가르치는
참으로 어려운 일을
부드러운 동정심과
인내심으로 극복해낸
생생한 증거를 찾아낼 겁니다.
예를 들어 여러분은
가장 친한 친구 다섯 명의 얼굴을
정확하게 묘사할 수 있습니까?
첫째날은
아주 바쁠 것 같습니다.
내 충직하고 믿음직한
개 두 마리의 눈도
들여다 보렵니다.
내 작고 아담한 집도 돌아보고 싶습니다.
첫째날 오후,
나는 오래도록 숲을 산책하며
자연의 아름다움에 흠뻑 취하렵니다.
거기에 더해 찬란하고
아름다운 저녁놀까지 볼 수 있다면
더 바랄게 없을 듯 합니다.
둘째 날,
나는 새벽같이 일어나
밤이 낮으로 바뀌는
그 전율어린 기적을 바라보겠습니다.
나는 이 날을 분주하게 돌아다니며
세상의 과거와 현재를 바라보는 일에
바치고 싶습니다.
박물관을 찾고
메트로폴리탄 미술관을 찾겠습니다.
나는 예술을 통해
인간의 영혼을 탐색하는 일에
둘째 날을 바치고 싶습니다.
둘째 날 저녁은
연극이나 영화를 보며 지내고 싶습니다.
하여 둘째 날 밤에는
희곡작품 속의 위대한 인물들이
내 눈에서 잠을 걷어내겠지요.
다음 날 아침,
나는 새로운 기쁨을
발견하고 싶은 마음에 들떠
또다시 새벽을 맞이할 것입니다.
나는 앞을 볼 수 있는 사람들에겐
매일매일 밝아오는 새벽이
영원히 반복되는
아름다움의 계시일 거라고 확신합니다.
이 날은 내가 볼 수 있는
셋째 날이자 마지막 날이군요.
오늘은 현실세계에서
사람들이 일하며 살아가는 모습을 구경할까 합니다.
그러자면 뉴욕만한 곳이 있을까요?
나는 가장 거대한 건축물 중 하나인
엠파이어 스테이트 빌딩의
꼭대기로 급히 올라가겠습니다.
이제 나는 도시를 돌아보기 시작합니다.
나는 5번가를 천천히 걸어갑니다.
특정한 대상에 초점을 맞추어
바라보지 않고 만화경처럼 물결치며
흘러가는 색채들을 그냥 지나치며 걷습니다.
이제 5번가에서 나온 나는
파크 애비뉴, 슬럼가, 공장지대,
어린이들이 뛰어다니는 공원 등을 둘러보며 시내관광을 합니다.
광명이 주어진 셋째 날이
거의 끝나갑니다.
남은 몇 시간 동안
진지하게 추구해야 할 것들이
아직 많습니다.
하지만 이 마지막 날 저녁에
나는 아주 신나는 코미디 공연이
한창인 극장으로 달려가야만 할 것 같군요.
그래서 인간의 정신 속에 깃들어 잇는
희극적인 요소를 감상하고 싶습니다.
어둠이 다시 내린 후에야
얼마나 많은 것들을
빠뜨리고 보지 못했는지
비로소 깨닫게 될 겁니다.
하지만 내 마음은
멋진 기억들로 가득 차 있어서
빠뜨린 것에 대해 아쉬워할 겨를도
없으리라 생각합니다.
이후부터는 만지는 것마다
사흘의 기적이 가져온
멋진 기억들이 따라와서
그 물건의 모습을 떠올려줄테니까요.
모든 감각을 최대한 활용하세요.
그렇지만 단언하건대
모든 감각 중에서도
시각이야말로 가장 즐거운 하나님의 축복이다.
.
ㅡ 헬렌켈러 ㅡ
Three Days to See
Three days to see / Helen Adams Keller
All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.
Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations, should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings? What happiness should we find in reviewing the past, what regrets?
Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die to-morrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with a gentleness, a vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the epicurean motto of 'Eat, drink, and be merry,' but most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.
In stories, the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do.
Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.
The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our facilities and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.
I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.
Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. 'Nothing in particular,' she replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.
How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough, shaggy bark of a pine. In spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter's sleep. I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me. Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song. I am delighted to have the cool waters of a brook rush through my open fingers. To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. To me the pageant of seasons is a thrilling and unending drama, the action of which streams through my finger tips.
At times my heart cries out with longing to see all these things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight. Yet, those who have eyes apparently see little. The panorama of color and action which fills the world is taken for granted. It is human, perhaps, to appreciate little that which have and to long for that which we have not, but it is a great pity that in the world of light the gift of sight is used only as a mere convenience rather than as a means of adding fullness to life.
If I were the president of a university I should establish a compulsory course in 'How to Use Your Eyes'. The professor would try to show his pupils how they could add joy to their lives by really seeing what passes unnoticed before them. He would try to awake their dormant and sluggish faculties.
II
Perhaps I can best illustrate by imagining what I should most like to see if I was given the use of my eyes, say, for just three days. And while I am imagining, suppose you, too, set your mind to work on the problem of how to work on the problem of how you would use your own eyes if you had only three days to see. If with the oncoming darkness if the third night you knew that the sun would never rise for you again, how would you spend those three intervening days? What would you most want to let your gaze rest upon?
I, naturally, should want most to see the things which have become dear to me through my years of darkness. You, too, would want to let your eyes rest long on the things that have become dear to you so that you could take the memory of them with you into the night that loomed before you.
If, by some miracle, I were granted three seeing days, to be followed by a relapse into darkness, I should divide the period into three parts.
On the first day, I should want to see the people whose kindness and gentleness and companionship have made my life worth living. First I should like to gaze long upon the face of my dear teacher, Mrs. Ann Sullivan Macy, who came to me when I was a child and opened the outer world to me. I should want not merely to see the outline of her face, so that I could cherish it in my memory, but to study that face and find in it the living evidence of the sympathetic tenderness and patience with which she accomplished the difficult task of my education. I should like to see in her eyes that strength of character which has enabled her to stand firm in the face of difficulties, and that compassion for all humanity which she has revealed to me so often.
I do not know what it is to see into the heart of a friend through that 'window of the soul,' the eye. I can only 'see' through my finger tips the outline of a face. I can detect laughter, sorrow, and many other obvious emotions. I know my friends from the feel of their faces. But I cannot really picture their personalities, of course, through the thoughts they express to me, through whatever of their actions are revealed to me. But I am denied that deeper understanding of them which I am sure would come through sight of them, through watching their reactions to various expressed and circumstances, through noting the immediate and fleeting reactions of their eyes and countenance.
Friends who are near to me I know well, because through the months and years they reveal themselves to me in all their phases; but of casual friends I have only an incomplete impression, an impression gained from handclasp, from spoken words which I take from their lips with my finger tips, or which they tap into the palm of my hand.
How much easier, how much more satisfying it is for you who can see to grasp quickly the essential qualities of another person by watching the subtleties of expression, the quiver of a muscle, the flutter of a hand. But does it ever occur to you to use your sight to see the inner nature of a friend or acquaintance? Do not most of you seeing people grasp casually the outward features of a face and let it go at that?
For instance, can you describe accurately the faces of five good friends? Some of you can, but many cannot. As an experiment, I have questioned husbands of long standing about the color of their wives' eyes, and often they express embarrassed confusion and admit that they so not know. And, incidentally, it is a chronic complaint of wives that their husbands do not notice new dresses, new hats, and changes in household arrangements.
The eyes of seeing persons soon become accustomed to the routine of their surroundings, and they actually see only the startling and spectacular. But even in viewing the most spectacular sights the eyes are lazy. Court records reveal every day how inaccurately 'eyewitnesses' see. A given event will be 'seen' in several different ways by as many witnesses. Some see more than others, but few see everything that is within the range of their vision.
Oh, the things that I should see if I had the power of sight for just three days!
The first day would be a busy one. I should call to me all my dear friends and look long into their faces, imprinting upon my mind the outward evidence of the beauty that is within them. I should let my eyes rest, too, on the face of a baby, so that I could catch a vision of the eager, innocent beauty which precedes the individuals consciousness of the conflicts which life develops.
And I should like to look into the loyal, trusting eyes of my dogs - the grave, canny little Scottie, Darkie, and the stalwart, understanding Great Dane, Helga, whose warm, tender, and playful friendships are so comforting to me.
On that busy first day I should also view the small simple things of my home. I want to see the warm colors in the rugs under my feet, the pictures on the walls, the intimate trifles that transform a house into a home. My eyes would rest respectfully on the books in raised type which I have read, but they would be more eagerly interested in the printed books which seeing people can read, for during the long night of my life the books I have read and those which have been read to me have built themselves into a great shining lighthouse, revealing to me the deepest channels of human life and the human spirit.
In the afternoon of that first seeing day, I should take a long walk in the woods and intoxicate my eyes on the beauties of the world of Nature, trying desperately to absorb in a few hours the vast splendor which is constantly unfolding itself to those who can see. On the way home from my woodland jaunt my path would lie near a farm so that I might see the patient horses ploughing in the field (perhaps I should see only a tractor!) and the serene content of men living close to the soil. And I should pray for the glory of a colorful sunset.
When dusk had fallen, I should experience the double delight of being able to see by artificial light, which the genius of man has created to extend the power of his sight when Nature decrees darkness.
In the night of that first day of sight, I should not be able to sleep, so full would be my mind of the memories of the day.
III
The next day - the second day of sight - I should arise with the dawn and see the thrilling miracle by which night is transformed into day. I should behold with awe the magnificent panorama of light with which the sun awakens the sleeping earth.
This day I should devote to a hasty glimpse of the world, past and present. I should want to see the pageant of man's progress, the kaleidoscope of the ages. How can so much compressed into one day? Through the museums, of course. Often I have visited the New York Museum of Natural History to touch with my hands many of the objects there exhibited, but I have longed to see with my eyes the condensed history of the earth and its inhabitants displayed there - animals and the races of men pictured in their native environment; gigantic carcasses of dinosaurs and mastodons which roamed the earth long before man appeared, with his tiny stature and powerful brain, to conquer the animal kingdom; realistic presentations of the processes of evolution in animals, and in the implements which man has used to fashion for himself a secure home on this planet; and a thousand and one other aspects of natural history.
I wonder how many readers of this article have viewed this panorama of the face of living things as pictured in that inspiring museum. Many, of course, have not had the opportunity, but, I am sure that many who have had the opportunity have not made use of it. There, indeed, is a place to use your eyes. You who can see can spend many fruitful days there, but I, with my imaginary three days of sight, could only take a hasty glimpse, and pass on.
My next stop would be the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for just as the Museum of Natural History reveals the material aspects of the world, so does the Metropolitan show the myriad facets of the human spirit. Throughout the history of humanity the urge to artistic expression has been almost as powerful as the urge for food, shelter, and procreation. And here, in the vast chambers of the Metropolitan Museum, is unfolded before me the spirit of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as expressed in their art. I know well through my hands the sculptured gods and goddesses of the ancient Nile-land. I have a few copies of Parthenon friezes, and I have sensed the rhythmic beauty of charging Athenian warriors. Apollos and Venuses and the winged victory of Samothrace are friends of my finger tips. The gnarled, bearded features of Homer are dear to me, for he, too, knew blindness.
My hands have lingered upon the living marvel of Roman sculpture as well as that of later generations. I have passed my hands over a plaster cast of Michelangelo's inspiring and heroic Moses; I have sensed the power of Rodin; I have been awed by the devoted spirit of Gothic wood carving. These arts which can be touched have meaning for me, but even they were meant to be seen rather than felt, and I can only guess at the beauty which remains hidden from me. I can admire the simple lines of a Greek vase, but its figured decorations are lost to me.
So on this, my second day of sight, I should try to probe into the soul of man through his art. The things I knew through touch I should now see. More splendid still, the whole magnificent world of painting would be opened to me, from the Italian Primitives, with their serene religious devotion, to the Moderns, with their feverish visions. I should look deep into the canvases of Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci, Titian, Rembrandt. I should want to feast my eyes upon the warm colors of Veronese, study the mysteries of El Greco, catch a new vision of Nature from Corot. Oh, there is so much rich meaning and beauty in the art of the ages for you who have eyes to see!
Upon my short visit to this temple of art I should not be able to review a fraction of that great world of art which is open to you. I should be able to get only a superficial impression. Artists tell me that for a deep and true appreciation of art one must educate the eye. One must learn from experience to weigh the merits of line, of composition, of form and color. If I had eyes, how happily would I embark upon so fascinating a study! Yet I am told that, to many of you who have eyes to see, the world of art is a dark night, unexplored and unilluminated.
It would be with extreme reluctance that I should leave the Metropolitan Museum, which contains the key to beauty - a beauty so neglected. Seeing persons, however, do not need a Metropolitan to find this key to beauty. The same key lies waiting in smaller museums, and in books on the shelves of even small libraries. But naturally, in my limited time of imaginary sight, I should choose the place where the key unlocks the greatest treasures in the shortest time.
The evening of my second day of sight I should spend at a theatre or at the movies. Even now I often attend theatrical performances of all sorts, but the action of the play must be spelled into my hand by a companion. But how I should like to see with my own eyes the fascinating figure of Hamlet, or the gusty Falstaff amid colorful Elizabethan trappings! How I should like to follow each movement of the graceful Hamlet, each strut of the hearty Falstaff! And since I could see only one play, I should be confronted by a many-horned dilemma, for there are scores of plays I should want to see. You who have eyes can see any you like. How many of you, I wonder, when you gaze at a play, a movie, or any spectacle, realize and give thanks for the miracle of sight which enables you to enjoy its color, grace, and movement?
I cannot enjoy the beauty rythmic movement except in a sphere restricted to the touch of my hands. I can vision only dimly the grace of a Pavlowa, although I know something of the delight of rhythm, for often I can sense the beat of music as it vibrates through the floor. I can well imagine that cadenced motion must be one of the most pleasing sights in the world. I have been able to gather something of this by tracing with my fingers the lines in sculptured marble; if this static grace can be so lovely, how much more acute must be the thrill of seeing grace in motion.
One of my dearest memories is of the time when Joseph Jefferson allowed me to touch his face and hands as he went through some of the gestures and speeches of his beloved Rip Van Winkle. I was able to catch thus a meager glimpse of the world of drama, and I shall never forget the delight of that moment. But, oh, how much I must miss, and how much pleasure you seeing ones can derive from watching and hearing the interplay of speech and movement in the unfolding of a dramatic performance! If I could see only one play, I should know how to picture in my mind the action of a hundred plays which I have read or had transferred to me through the medium of manual alphabet.
So, through the evening of my second imaginary day of sight, the great figures of dramatic literature would crowd sleep from my eyes.
IV
The following morning, I should again greet the dawn, anxious to discover new delights, for I am sure that, for those who have eyes which really see, the dawn of each day must be a perpetually new revelation of beauty.
This, according to the terms of my imagined miracle, is to be my third and last day of sight. I shall have no time to waste in regrets or longings; there is too much to see. The first day I devoted to my friends, animate and inanimate. The second revealed to me the history of man and Nature. To-day I shall spend in the workday world of the present, amid the haunts of men going about the business of life. And where one can find so many activities and conditions of men as in New York? So the city becomes my destination.
I start from my home in the quiet little suburb of Forest Hills, Long Island. Here, surrounded by green lawns, trees, and flowers, are neat little houses, happy with the voices and movements of wives and children, havens of peaceful rest for men who toil in the city. I drive across the lacy structure of steel which spans the East River, and I get a new and startling vision of the power and ingenuity of the mind of man. Busy boats chug and scurry about the river - racy speed, boats, stolid, snorting tugs. If I had long days of sight ahead, I should spend many of them watching the delightful activity upon the river.
I look ahead, and before me rise the fantastic towers of New York, a city that seems to have stepped from the pages of a fairy story. What an awe-inspiring sight, these glittering spires, these vast banks of stone and steel - sculptures such as the gods might build for themselves! This animated picture is a part of the lives of millions of people every day. How many, I wonder, give it so much as a second glance? Very few, I fear. Their eyes are blind to this magnificent sight because it is so familiar to them.
I hurry to the top of one of those gigantic structures, the Empire State Building, for there, a short time ago, I 'saw' the city below through the eyes of my secretary. I am anxious to compare my fancy with reality. I am sure I should not be disappointed in the panorama spread out before me, for to me it would be a vision of another world.
Now I begin my rounds of the city. First, I stand at a busy corner, merely looking at people, trying by sight of them to understand something of their lives. I see smiles, and I am happy. I see serious determination, and I am proud. I see suffering, and I am compassionate.
I stroll down Fifth Avenue. I throw my eyes out of focus, so that I see no particular object but a seething kaleidoscope of color. I am certain that the colors of women's dresses moving in a throng must be a gorgeous spectacle of which I should never tire. But perhaps if I had sight I should be like most other women - too interested in styles and the cut of individual dresses to give much attention to the splendor of color in the mass. And I am convinced, too, that I should become an inveterate window shopper, for it must be a delight to the eye to view the myriad articles of beauty on display.
From Fifth Avenue I make a tour of the city - to Park Avenue, to the slums, to factories, to parks where children play. I take a stay-at-home trip abroad by visiting the foreign quarters. Always my eyes are open wide to all the sights of both happiness and misery so that I may probe deep and add to my understanding of how people work and live. My heart is full of the images of people and things. My eye passes lightly over no single trifle; it strives to touch and hold closely each thing its gaze rests upon. Some sights are pleasant, filling the heart with happiness; but some are miserably pathetic. To these latter I do not shut my eyes, for they, too are part of life. To close the eye on them is to close the heart and mind.
My third day of sight is drawing to an end. Perhaps there are many serious pursuits to which I should devote the few remaining hours, but I am afraid that on the evening of that last day I should run away to the theatre, to a hilariously funny play, so that I might appreciate the overtones of comedy in the human spirit.
At midnight my temporary respite from blindness would cease, and permanent night would close in on me again. Naturally in those three short days I should not have seen all I wanted to see. Only when darkness had again descended upon me should I realize how much I had left unseen. But my mind would be so overcrowded with glorious memories that I should have little time for regrets. Thereafter the touch of every object would bring a glowing memory of how that object looked.
Perhaps this short outline of how I should spend three days of sight does not agree with the programme you would set for yourself if you knew that you were about to be stricken blind. I am, however, sure that if you actually faced that fate your eyes would open to things you had never seen before, storing up memories for the long night ahead. You would use your eyes as never before. Everything you saw would become dear to you. Your eyes would touch and embrace every object that came within your range of vision. Then, at last, you would really see, and a new world of beauty would open itself before you.
I who am blind can give one hint to those who see - one admonition to those who would make full use of the gift of sight: Use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind. And the same method can be applied to other senses. Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra, as if you would be stricken deaf to-morrow. Touch each object you want to touch as if tomorrow your tactile sense would fail. Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish each morsel, as if tomorrow you could never smell and taste again. Make the most of every sense; glory in all the facets of pleasure and beauty which the world reveals to you through the several means of contact which Nature provides. But of all the senses, I am sure that sight must be the most delightful.
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