Sometimes people will ask me what it is that I see. Their
question is sincere, but I often respond by saying what it is that I am unable
to see. For instance, I might respond by saying that I can’t see the person’s
face or the writing on a piece of paper or a picture on a cell phone. This
seems to be a satisfying enough answer. Nevertheless, I am personally surprised
at the inconsistencies I notice with my sight.
The other morning I was sitting in my comfortable chair and
looking at a picture on the opposite wall. It is quite a beautiful picture in a
large frame. In fact, we have two pictures of the same setting. Each is of a
cliff face by the ocean. They are actually images taken by a professional
photographer. One shows the landscape in the pearly white of early morning and
the other was taken in the orange glow of sunset. I like both but because they
are so large, only one will fit nicely onto the wall at the same time.
Consequently, I sometimes change them around with the morning view in the
bedroom and the sunset in our living room and then vice versa.
This particular morning, I had been reflecting on the one in
the living room. The images have a very nostalgic feel for me as both were
taken within a stone’s throw of where my parents used to live. The interesting
part of all this is that after several minutes of contemplation, I couldn’t
remember which of the two I was looking at. It was a sad moment when I realized
that I couldn’t actually see the picture but was merely remembering what I
thought I could see.
It’s now been close on thirty years since my initial vision
loss, and I do find it hard to explain to people what it is that I can see.
There are a number of things in our house, and I suppose elsewhere as well,
that I think I can see, but really the image is just in my mind or perhaps in
my memory. I can’t really see them with my eyes. It’s such a strange phenomenon
and I’m not sure that I have explained myself properly even now. I wonder if
others with limited vision have similar sight experiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment