When I was fifteen, I stood in front of my English class and read an essay I had written. I talked about how excited all my friends were to be taking driver's education and getting driver's licenses. I was jealous. I knew that I'd always be walking eveywhere I went or else dependent on others to drive me. I am legally blind.
Since I was four years old, I have had a condition called dry-eye syndrome. While I do have some sight, I never know when I wake up in the morning exactly how much vision I wil have that day. The reason for this is that my eyes don not produce enought tears to lubricate my corneas. As a result, my corneas are scarred. Glasses cannot help me.
There are many things I cannot do. I can't drive, read the blackboard in school or read a book comfortably. But there are far more things I can do.
Washington Monument
Washington and Jefferson monuments
Princeton University, New JerseyIn high school, I played varsity basketball. My teammates gave me oral signals and i learned to gauge where the ball was by the sound of their voices. As a result, I learned to focus extremely well. I earned the sportsmanship award my senior year.
In addition to basketball, I was a representative to the student council. I also partcipated in a Model United Nations program, traveling to Washington, D.C., with my class to see our legislators in action. I graduated from high school with a dual curriculum in Jewish and general studies.
After graduation, I studied in Isreal for two years. Today, I am a sophomore at Princton University. I plan to go to law school and maybe rabbinical school.
Do I wish I could see like other people? Of course. But being blind hasn't limited me in any of the ways I consider really important. I'm still me. If I've had to be more dependant on my friends, at least I've learned who my friends really are.
Because I've had to struggle to find ways to learn that didn't include sight, I've made superior use of my other senses.
I don't kow why God chose t give me only a little vision. Maybe he did it so that i would appreciate what i do have even more. Maybe he did it so that I would have to develop y other capabilities and talents to compensate. Or maybe he gave me this special "gift" because I am, in every other respect, so normal that he wanted to pucsh me to excel. It worked.
There are many different ways to look at life. This is how I see it.
A Model United Nations in Norfolk, Virginia
A Model United Nations Conference in Stuttgart, Ge...
Negotiations at a Model United Nations conference ...