Window Blinds - Annie Dillard's "Seeing"

Annie Dillard approaches the idea of sight and how we view life in a very interesting manner.  Starting with a story from her childhood about hiding pennies, she continues in the next setting of how a penny isn’t worth that much to someone as you get older.  She connects this with seeing as well.  How people view the world around them changes dramatically as they get older.  A young child seeing a fish for the first time might take in the slimy, wet scales on the body and feel a prick from getting too close to a sharp fin.  They would see the fish gasping for breath; red gills rising and falling rapidly as they were searching for water in the air.  They would hear the splash as the fish is tossed back into the water.  Now though, close your eyes.  The whole scenario has changed.  Yes, you can still feel the fish with your eyes closed, but how would you know it’s even a fish anymore?  Only because someone tells you it is so?  Now maybe the prick they tell you is from a fin is really just someone poking you with a needle.  The struggle that a fish has out of water goes unnoticed. 

With this thought in mind of what it would be like to be blind, I think Annie Dillard flawlessly transitions to the end of her story in sharing the details about people who have undergone corrective eye surgery to correct their vision problems.  If I was 21 and was just being able to see for the first time, I can’t imagine how I would react, but I feel it would be much in the same way as her examples.  If I had learned to walk around my house without seeing anything, would I not be more comfortable with doing so for the rest of my life?  Your eyes are the windows to your soul, but maybe that’s why so many people put blinds on them.  The harsh realities that can come with seeing (such as witnessing a brutal crime) are forgotten by those that have been blessed with the gift of it throughout their life.