Now, at this point in time I don’t feel
that I need a guide dog, so why did I participate in the walk? I think that my
inspiration comes from a family I met several years ago.
In 2012 when I was doing my walks across
Canada to promote an awareness of the significance of white canes, I met a
family in Kingston, Ontario. The family, two parents and three young boys, came
to the walk to support me. Of the three
boys, the youngest was completely without sight and one of the other boys was
quite visually impaired. Truly, this family faced many personal challenges and
yet they had come to support me.
The dad explained that he felt it was
important to support organizations and endeavours outside their own issues. He
then insisted that I take $20 towards my personal expenses. I was quite humbled
by this man’s positive and generous attitude, an attitude that was obviously
shared by his wife and was being passed on to his children.
The common bond between us was that of
vision loss. My own challenges of partial sight actually seemed trivial in
comparison to the hurdles that were facing this family. Yet, they still managed to reach out in
support of someone else. That I was a stranger to the family of five melted
away with our shared bond. I have kept the memory of them all over the past
seven years. They are part of the reason I feel motivated to reach out.
I was quite pleased when two friends and
others of our local vision loss support group also participated in last weekend’s
walk in support of guide dogs. Below is a picture taken of four of our support
group members. From left to right: Irma, Sue, Carol and Vern.
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| Sue with Irma, Carol and Vern at the walk |
You can learn more about Guide Dogs of Canada on their web site.
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