May 20 - From the Inside Looking Out

There is quite a difference between the idea of looking out from the inside and looking in from the outside – especially when it comes to people. Our bodies are not clear glass and so when we are on the outside, it is impossible to look inside someone else. Our inner thoughts are concealed by our outward appearance.

I have especially been thinking of this when it comes to sight.  Perhaps an ophthalmologist can see behind the retina, but for the rest of us looking from the outside and looking in, it isn’t possible to know what someone else is capable of seeing. It is only the person him or her self who knows what he or she is able to see.

I was reminded of this last week. I met with some friends for coffee. We talked of this and that and somehow or other the conversation turned to sight challenges. I tried to explain what it was that I was able to see and some of the things that I couldn’t see. I explained that although I was looking across the table at one of the women, I was unable to see her face.

The woman next to me gasped. “But,” she said, “You look so normal!”

I was glad that I appeared to look “normal”, but it reaffirmed my premise that there is quite a difference between what our eyes see from the outside to what they can see from the inside.