In the Land of the Blind

IN THE LAND OF THE BLIND

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“In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King!” That proverb, written in 1500 by Erasmus, keeps running through my mind. I don’t have one good eye, but two very poor eyes. I’ve suffered with near-sightedness, cataracts and macular degeneration for all of my life! For decades my vision has been somewhere between being almost able to drive a car  and needing a dog and white cane!

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I can’t resist smiling. Once I was a freak. The kid and later the man with all of the vision problems. Some people felt sorry for me. Others felt derision. All because of the things I could not do or did poorly. 

But today, the tables have turned. Today I am the one who can do things that others cannot.

Now, the worst off are the people who have always had 20-20 vision. They could read the last line on the eye examination charts. Their eyes never stopped them from leading full lives. Today they are stumbling about, walking into walls, trees, light poles.They are unable to adapt to this new world. They can not learn to accept what their sense of smell, taste, sound or touch tells them. They have always depended on what those  two jelly filled orbs have told them.  Vision has a very limited field of use. You can only see what’s directly ahead of you. That is why the most successful predators depend more on smell and sound than vision. And that’s why most predators hunt at night! Sound and smell surround you and touch encompasses the whole body. But they refuse to accept these senses, They will not learn. They are the lost, the damned. The dead.

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Darkness and shadows are old friends and allies of mine.  When the world was full of sunlight and artificial lighting, I was the handicapped one,  the weak one, the odd man out!  My first eyeglasses came at age 4. By age 7, my glasses resembled the bottoms of soft-drink bottles. A permanent crease exists on the bridge of my nose from the weight of my glasses pressing down on it. I always joked that if the sun shone over my shoulder at the correct angle and through my glasses,  I could start forest fires! People called me Mister Magoo as I grew up. I didn’t know who Mr Magoo was and was too embarrassed to ask. I was the butt of many cruel and vicious jokes from many cruel people. In the sixth grade, I placed my glasses on my desk so I could rub my eyes. Eye strain often gave me horrible headaches and this was one way of relieving the pain. One of my worst tormentors, a freckled faced monster named Jimmy Belser, snitched my glasses and ran away with them. The teacher was out of the room and all of the other kids knew he did this. They all started laughing and I reached for my glasses to see what was happening. But my searching fingers found nothing! Not realizing what was happening, I feared my glasses had fallen to the floor so I got on my hands and knees and began crawling around under the desks seeking my only connection to the sighted world. Everything was a blur and I began to panic. I crawled faster and faster and my outstretched hands brushed a girl’s leg. The leg belonged to Gloria Webster, the most beautiful girl in the school. Yes, I had a crush on her and it was obvious. I had overheard her and some of her clique say what an ugly little toad I was and there was no way they would ever be seen with me! She had to know what I did was an accident but she played her part beautifully. She jumped out of her seat and then slapped me so hard across the face that my nose bled furiously and I saw stars for about 30 seconds. The next day, I would sport a shiner that lasted a week. “You FREAK!’ she shrieked. “You PERVERT!” 

Miss McGilley entered the room as this outburst happened. I was babbling out my apologies and explanation as Gloria and her gang of harpies began shouting how I was trying to molest my classmate.

Miss McGilley reacted by twisting my ear and yanking me to my feet. Still holding my ear lobe she half dragged me down the hall towards the principal’s office. I had never been disciplined in school before and was terror stricken to be hauled there now. I was bawling my eyes out when she pushed me into the chair across from Principal Boice’s desk and shrieked out her accusations. Calmly he asked me where my glasses were. Tearfully I tried to explain and both of them apparently realized what happened at the same time. 

The principal stared balefully at the teacher and strongly suggested she go to her class and find my glasses. And proving he had a good understanding of what took place in his school, he strongly suggested she ask Jimmy Belser where my glasses could be found. Ten minutes later, she returned with Jimmy and my glasses. Jimmy had panicked and tried to destroy the evidence by smashing my lenses and stomping the frames. 

My prescription was expensive and my parents had no money for a second pair of glasses. Since Jimmy’s parents refused to pay for the replacements, Principal Boice decided to take the money the class had collected for a trip to the movies, complete with a bag of popcorn and an Orange Crush soft drink for each six-grader, and use the money to buy me new glasses. This did not endear me to my classmates and I lost a tooth and collected several more black eyes to show their appreciation for what I had cost them.

I don’t know if Jimmy and Gloria are still alive but I pray they are. And I pray even harder they show up at my door, begging for help!   

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 When I grew up, I was declared 4F when my draft number came up. I wanted to go! I wanted to fight. I wanted to fight back, against the world.  

I’ve lost count of the eye surgeries I’ve had. Cataracts, retina surgeries, even ptosis surgery to shorten my eyelids to prevent my eyelids from drooping. When it was diagnosed I also have macular degeneration, I began getting monthly eye injections. Then it was two injections per eye. I took handfuls of eye vitamins.

 I bought the brightest light bulbs available to better illuminate my rooms.

But the shadows were always there. I could not escape them. Now, nobody will ever  escape. But I managed to survive! So far, at least! 

The totally blind who have seeing-eye dogs are the luckiest!  They can still navigate, thanks to their trusted pooches and the dogs’ superior eyesight.  But as those dogs die, there will be nobody to train replacements. 

So what happened? Fate.

For nearly five years, the number one global topic of conversation was  THE EARTH SLAYER. The Aenesti Comet. When this comet, the size of Africa, was first seen by the Hubble Telescope, the course it was on was certain to collide fully with the Earth. The best the occupants of Earth could pray for, was a  near-miss of less than a thousand miles but that wouldn’t be enough to prevent the total destruction of our planet.  

Total. Destruction.

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Suddenly a voluntary truce broke out around the globe as the many warring countries and armies stopped trying to kill each other and instead started cooperating in an attempt to save themselves and their loved ones. Everywhere, armies became dedicated to digging deep tunnels then excavating massive caverns and setting up living quarters to support survivors. But first there were whispers and then shouts among the populations that there would not be enough room for everybody. And definitely not enough supplies to support even a small population for very long. When people soon realized they were laboring to save somebody else’s life and family, interest in the projects died quickly. 

Suddenly old science fiction movies like Bruce Willis’ ARMAGEDDON flooded the TV channels and movie theaters. In that movie, Bruce is the head of an oceanographic oil well drilling company that specializes in the hardest jobs. A comet is bearing down on the Earth and two space shuttles, manned by Willis’ crew are flown up to intercept the comet and drill holes for nuclear devices to blow the giant chunk of ice and stone into small pebbles and away from our planet.  People began demanding the governments start programs that mimicked the movie plots. If an actor like Willis could save the world, then why can’t real scientists do it too? Riots and protests popped up across the globe as the reality of man’s approaching demise became evident. The previous cooperation between nations and neighbors fell apart as it became obvious there would never be enough room nor supplies to care for everyone. No these people were being deceived into preparing for the survival of the ruling caste and the wealthiest among them. Riots and protests resumed. Assassinations and hate crimes escalated. Miners and construction workers refused to labor on these projects.  We were all going to be screwed together.

Over and over, the paths of the comet and the Earth were calculated and the answer was always the same. A mutually destructive collision was coming.

The calculations were correct but there was one factor NOT taken into consideration.

The orbit of the sun.

The orbits of the planets within the Solar System were well mapped out and precise because the orbits were around the sun and its relatively small area. However, nobody has ever been able to calculate the orbiting period of the sun because it meanders along an imprecise path through The Milky Way. It is theorized that a single orbit takes approximately 400 years. And because of the tiny volume of mass of the sun and its planets, it is perpetually being pulled and shoved off course  by the gravitational pull of larger systems and the effects of cosmic storms.

And so, nobody considered that the sun might save the day. And it did. Sort of.

The Killer Comet’s path to Earth was interrupted by a direct hit into the sun! The explosion incinerated much of Europe. Mercury is gone! Completely destroyed.  Venus was fragmented into three major pieces which continue to orbit what’s left of the sun. Maybe 40% of the sun is still intact but the massive clouds of smoke and ash now block 95% of the sunlight. And the sun’s erratic orbit through the Milky Way has become more distorted. It’s anybody’s guess how this will affect the future. 

The solar system is coming undone. Pluto is out of range for nearly all telescopes.  It’s spinning off to points unknown. Neptune and Uranus are slowly being lost as the gravitational pull of the sun is steadily fading away. Our moon is twice the distance away from Earth as before and following Neptune and Uranus. 

Nobody discusses it, at least not publicly, but life on our planet will soon be lost or greatly changed. The leaves on the trees and plants are losing their green colors as the chlorophyll within is losing its function of providing food and oxygen. All because virtually no sunlight reaches the leaves. And so no flowers are produced to make seeds which are consumed or reproduce the plants. Nor are the leaves supporting the lowest levels of animals and insects. This will starve out the predators.

Batteries for flashlights are already in short supply making travel into the darkness limited and dangerous. Batteries for radios are already impossible to find eliminating music and communications. Oil supplies and the electricity produced are limited to hospitals, military installments and critical government buildings.  

Solar powered tools and equipment have been rendered useless and the owners of houses with working fireplaces appreciate that feature more than ever. The dying vegetation will keep the home fires burning a while longer. 

But my world has barely changed. I have a food source unlike most. My property, which has been in my family for generations, has a number of subterranean caverns that once served as a tourist attraction. There are  underground rivers loaded with blind catfish, crayfish, shrimp and crabs. Bats, rats and mice also live within the darkness and a man can learn to put squeamishness aside when hunger is his master. There is a massive amount of bat guano accumulated. In the past, my family harvested it and sold it for fertilizers. Now I cultivate a number of varieties of mushrooms and other valuable fungi that grow in the chemically rich soup.  These help improve our dietary needs and provide limited medicinal needs,  And I  am hauling much of it out of the wetness of the caverns and spreading it on the ground. Once it dries, it will be used for cooking fires.

 I am happy to take care of those friends and neighbors, who helped me when I was nearly helpless. These people will not go hungry! Those who showed me no generosity in the past are now helping me to  become  wealthy. Paper currency, jewelry, gold and silver have no value to me. I swap seafood for chickens, eggs, liquor, medical supplies, guns and ammunition. These  now  are my currency. I have to be careful where I stockpile my riches. People know that I have my riches and they believe I am as defenseless as I was as a child. Instead,  I have placed various booby traps ranging from bear pits to claymore mines around my land and I have buried 3 bodies and followed numerous blood trails across my land.

I've brought  Sarah here to live with me. Sarah was the wife  of my good friend Benjamin and he was killed during the first wave of riots. He was a policeman and a damn good one too! He had stopped to help a woman with a flat tire. But it was an ambush and a dozen assholes came out of the darkness and grabbed him. His tortured body was recovered three days later. Benjamin and I had lived in the same neighborhood  and even though he was several years older, he was kind enough to accept and befriend the strange kid who could barely see. On several occasions he stopped the neighborhood or school bullies from stomping my ass. 

Sarah’s blindness was the result of an automobile accident immediately after her husband’s untimely death. Benjamin had been missing for the three days and when she received the unhappy report of his demise, she put their two boys in the backseat,  jumped in her car and sped towards the hospital where  his body lay. Halfway there,  she missed a sharp curve and rolled her car. She was in a coma for two weeks and missed Benjamin’s funeral. Also the children’s funeral too.  She awoke to a world of blackness because she lost her eyesight…

Going down the underground corridors of shadows. Using my stick to keep me on the correct path. TAP! TAP-TAP! TAP! The underground paths are slick with moisture and algae. There are deep crevices caused by natural rock falls but also when my father and grandfather used dynamite and jackhammers to create the walkways through the caverns for the tourists and also the stairs and steps that take us down  to the water, This allows us to harvest the fish, shrimp and crabs and retrieve drinking water. But it would be easy to accidentally step off of the stone paths. One could only hope for a swift and painless death because survival would be agonizing with no hopes of medical help.

The walls of the cavern have a low green glow because of the algae and the bioluminescence / photoluminescence it produces. Sometimes I can see it and it helps.

I am setting up a series of ropes to help Sarah learn her new world. She can follow the ropes with her hands while she learns how to use her stick to navigate her way around. Tap! Tap! Tap-Tap-Tap!

My feelings for Sarah are purely platonic. She is the widow of my best friend and I owe him this kindness. But who knows what the future may bring? Perhaps we may fall in love. We might marry. We might have children.

Pale eyeless progeny…

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