“You don’t see with your eyes, you see with your brain. And the more words your brain has, the more things you can see” – KRS-One

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Before my surgery around both eyes, I took my eyesight for granted. I never considered how important they were when it came to driving, reading, or even pouring a glass a wine for my wife. Moreover, I didn’t realize how much sight and vision connected me to my surroundings; interweaving all the shapes, colors, and depths that afforded my mind a gateway that formed a mosaic of my memories, both good and bad.

I recently read that the “eyes are your body’s most highly developed sensory organs” and is “one of the most important senses.” Having good sight and vision leads to improved physical well-being, sharper driving ability, better learning, and understanding; overall…a healthier quality of life.

For those individuals with vision impairment, they face daily challenges that most of us take for granted. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vision Health Initiative, there are “serious consequences for the individual…who [has] compromised vision because it impedes the ability to read, drive, prepare meals, watch television, and attend to personal affairs.” What is more, decreased eyesight and vision “among mature adults has been shown to result in social isolation, family stress, and ultimately a greater tendency to experience other health conditions or die prematurely.”

While our eyesight and vision having a pragmatic benefit to our senses by connecting us to our surroundings and contributing to a healthier quality of life, our culture even places much emphasis on how the eyes esteem one’s character and human quality, emotions, beauty, and testament.

“Your eyes are so deep that leaning down to drink

To them I saw all mirrored suns repair

All desperate souls hurled deathward from their brink

Your eyes are so deep my memory is lost there.”

(Elsa’s Eyes, A Magazine of Verse, Five Poems from “Elsa’s Eyes” by Louis Aragon)

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“The prettiest eyes sparkle from the inside out.”

(Atticus)

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“Her eyes were windows to her soul,

What they held was more valuable than gold,

Appealingly only to look cold.”

(Her Eyes, from Tasha Lim)

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And we can even find 504 references to the eyes in God’s Word:

“How beautiful you are, my darling!

Oh, how beautiful!

Your eyes are doves" (Song of Solomon 1:15)

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"That which was from the beginning,

which we have heard,

which we have seen with our eyes..." (1 John 1:1)

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My vision impairment is another battle wound added to many others following six years of fighting cancer. And what makes this physical wound different compared to the others is that it’s evident to the world. Moreover, the contrast of this wound and the others…I have yet learned to cope with this visual battle wound.

For now, I am learning to adjust to the loss of my full sight. And maybe…just maybe, I will get a handle of pouring a glass of wine for my wife.

Soli Deo Gloria

AJH