I know that everyone’s been faced with hypothetical questions like, “If you were stranded on a desert island which book would you take or who would you want to be stranded with?” With all the “what if’s” in life there are a lot of things that we question every day. There are also a lot of things we take for granted. Here’s one of those hypothetical questions for you — if you had to choose whether you could hear or see, which would you choose?
A few weekends ago I realized the fact we often take these two senses for granted. I invited a few of my friends to go floating down the river in Helen. Our plans were to float down the river, and then we would go downtown and take in a few stores and a few sweets. We were all excited about the trip.
I had to work that morning so we agreed to leave around noon. Once in Helen, we made our way to Alpine Tubing and purchased our “ticket” for a two hour ride. My friends and I made our way to the tubes, picked out the ones we wanted, grabbed some life vests and headed for the river. Once in we rushed to tie our tubes together so the first time floaters were with us wouldn’t be separated and get off on the wrong exit.
When we finally settled in a peace overtook me. I pushed my glasses up on my head so that I could get a little tan and then closed my eyes. For fifteen minutes I listened to my friends talk and then began focusing on the the sounds of the river and the animals around. I went to sleep right there and enjoyed my little nap. A few minutes into my nap I heard Jim say “watch out for those limbs” so I grabbed hold of my glasses and waited for them to brush over me. After a minute I let them go on wondering what Jim had been talking about. I hadn’t felt any limbs. Figuring that I had avoided them I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep.
That was a BIG mistake. All of a sudden I felt the limbs brush over me and without even feeling I knew that my glasses were gone. We looked for them, but have you ever wanted to stick your hands in-between rocks where God only knows what is living? I climbed back in my tube and closed my eyes. The river giveth and the river taketh away. I could accept this.
Now let me go ahead and warn you that I despise not being able to see, and once off the river I became miserable. My friends were laughing at people and pointing at things that I could barely see. I became moody and very unfriendly. We cut our trip short and rushed home in an attempt to get me some more glasses or some contacts before everyone left. Unfortunately it was 4th of July weekend and no one was at work. I was stuck without a way to see. I began digging through boxes looking for my old contacts that the doctor thought had pink eye on them. I didn’t care.
I had to work. I had to drive. I had to be able to SEE! Finally after many tears and boxes being slung around I finally found a pair of contacts. I put them in and wore them for the next two days only to have my eyes swell up and become runny. That only meant one thing: pink eye.
What started out to be a wonderful weekend had turned horribly bad. How could something go so wrong? Things could only get worse. Then I resigned myself to blindness. I listened to music instead of watching television.
I played with my cat and dog instead of reading. I went and chased my nieces and nephews around bumping into everything in sight (or just out of it) instead of driving to my friends houses.
I let other people drive me around. I actually had a conversation with my sister-in-law. I enjoyed those two days a lot. I was reintroduced to my family, my animals and my old life before college. I spent time at home. It was weird but it felt normal — sort of.
The temporary loss of my sight truly opened my eyes to things that I had been ignoring for a while. I learned to listen again instead of just looking. As for the hypothetical question “Would you choose sight or hearing,” I have always said that I would choose hearing simply because I love music so much. And, I believe that you can tell a lot about a person from their voice.
There are several little pieces of advice that I can offer you based on my July 4 weekend: first, NEVER EVER put your glasses on top of your head when you float down a river. Better yet leave them in the car. Second take the time to listen to what’s going on around you and thirdly, don’t overlook the things going right outside your door. We miss so much by trying to get the most out of something instead of just letting the pleasure come to us. Slow down and listen to the music!

— Carrie Lynn Presley is a contributing writer for the Red & Black.