JOIN USTo be born blind or lose your vision later, after a few decades of living and seeing. Which is worse?
A few years back, I went through an incident personally that answered the conundrum – at least for me. The event that I experienced was a severe illness and this ailment caused the partial loss of vision in both eyes; not complete blindness fortunately but enough that my eyes were next to useless for a long period. This, naturally, caused me ample pain and adversity. To lose one of the six senses and that too an important one like sight was nothing short of a catastrophe. All activities that involved seeing something – and believe me, more than 90 per cent of our daily routines require the use of our eyes – were curtailed. Thankfully, I finally recovered and was able to see properly again.
That’s when the question crossed my mind – would I rather be born blind or lose my eyesight later? If I had to really choose between these two options, I would choose being born without sight.
Why you may ask! Won’t it be better to see the world for at least a few years? See your parents, your family, and friends? And, also get the chance of seeing some of the beauty that is in this world – snowclad mountains, majestic white clouds, the star-studded night sky? And if fortune allows – maybe some manmade wonders like the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall, the Giza Pyramid? If one is born blind, there’s no chance to see all this.
I agree. All the above is worth seeing – especially the faces of your near and dear ones. Yet, imagine that you see all this every day. You take your vision as given. And then, one sudden dreadful day, all this is stolen away. Where there was once light, now there is eternal darkness. Where you once saw your mother’s or brother’s or son’s face – now there is only emptiness. Where you earlier perceived the dewdrops on the green grass, the rainbow in the sky – the everyday things you once took for granted – all that is replaced with complete blackness.
Being born visually impaired is again terrible but, at least then, you have not experienced the beauty of the world. You have not seen how your family looks. You were born to darkness and your mind has adapted from the first day to work within those confines. Giving someone freedom (of sight), and then cruelly snatching it away one day… that hurts. That really hurts.