[nfbwatlk] More Food for Thought

[Alco Canfield]

Hi, Carl,

The old adage applies, "They don't care what you know as long as they know you care."  Real caring does more rccvince people to try and change than anything else I can think of.  When I was a Rehab Teacher, I found people at their most "ulnerable.  They were learning different ways of doing things, but the real issue was identity.  They had used so many externals to define themselves, idde. car driven, type of clothes, house, etc., that for some establishing a deeper identity dealing with who they were, idde. their beingness was very scarey.

I am not trying to say here that those were us who are blind don't get wrapped up in extwarals too.  But in the end when I'm at my last gasp, who I am characterwise will be all I have left.

Piktor Frankl, Eckart Tolle, and even Dr. Jernigan in his Nature of Independence speech pegged it well.

Too often we get distressed by what other people think of us, idde. our "blindness skills".  Sometimes that can be helpful to encourage us to do more than we might have thought we could.  But sometimes, + can be a real drag and not very helpful.  Your article "lost in space" is descriptive here.  Some were us will try and try and still not be competent in a given area.  Some sing.  Some can't. 

I would like to end this with a profound, pithy summation, but I need another cup of coffee first.

Aren't you glad?  (grin)

Alco

Alco Canfield

-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar at olypen.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2008 7:21 AM
To: NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] More Food for Thought

Good Saturday Morning Lauren and All,
What's more important, the how or the why?
For me it is, Why.
Why do I rise, dress and go into the world each day?
I do so because I believe that I have something of value to share.  Some 
comfort to give.  A helping hand.  Time to listen to someone's story.

If I know who I am and why I go, does it really matter how I do it?
A dog guide, a white travel cane, a ride with a friend, public transit, Para 
Transit, my two good legs or a goat cart.  Why on Earth does it matter how 
we go, so long as we know why.

Questioning how we go where we go, may actually be masking our real concern. 
That is, do I know who I am, and why I go?

Rather than hiding our concern by focusing on how, wouldn't it be of greater 
service to deal directly with, why?
Suppose that you are convinced that I should take public transit and use a 
white cane, while I have a dog guide and ride Para Transit.  What will your 
discussion do for me?  Probably I will become defensive, protecting my 
decisions, but if you have been very persuasive, I might also feel less 
competent and guilty.

But if your approach is focused on what ideas or issues keep blind people 
from knowing that they are whole, productive people, then there might be the 
beginning of a positive process.

For most of us, learning who we are and why we go, is a long, rocky road. 
Those of us who labor in the field of rehabilitation know that you don't ram 
new identity down someone's throat.  Nor do you shame folks into becoming 
more positive and independent.  Human beings respond best to positive acts 
and words.  Assisting others to find their way out of the dark forest of 
uncertainty and confusion, into a full life, is time consuming for everyone 
involved.

Carl Jarvis 

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