Blind Date
Imagine waking up one day without your sight. Imagine never being able to rely on what your eyes see, instead being forced to use your other senses to get by in your daily life. The most mundane activities would instantly take thought to perform. The importance placed on the physical appearance and aesthetics of people and environments would be lost… These are all realities that the blind face every day.
My friends and I went on a blind date (literally!) the other night for dinner at the restaurant O Noir in Toronto. This is a unique dining experience since the guests are eating their meals in complete darkness. It is so dark that I could not see my hand in front of my face. My initial reaction to the blackness enveloping itself around me was that a clown would jump out to grab my leg, but that never happened. Finally, I began to rely on my senses of hearing and touching. The servers working there are blind, and did a wonderful job using their senses in delivering our food and leading us in and out of the dark room. Otherwise, I would have fallen flat on my face! I opted to try my appetizer, entree and dessert as the “surprise” option, which was both thrilling and bizarre at the same time. It became a fun guessing game at the table attempting to figure out what was going into my mouth. Ultimately my score was a low one out of three! Although the experience was interesting and exciting, I was relieved to have my sight back at the end of the meal. It is safe to say that I adopted a newfound appreciation for my perfect vision.
What resonated with me the most from this blind date were the two birthday celebrations taking place during our meal. The entire restaurant joined in to sing “Happy Birthday” to both people, at separate tables. Although I will never know what those people looked like or who they were, there was a sense of unity among every person in the room.
The concept of spending time with people, getting to know their personalities and their inner spirit instead of focusing on superficial physical features, which are irrelevant in the long run, plagued my mind for a few days following the dinner. There is too great a focus placed on appearance in our society, especially in the dating world. Wouldn’t life be easier if everyone was blind, and had no concept of physical beauty? Instead inner beauty would be all that mattered. The term “gorgeous” or “beautiful” would refer to someone’s character and not their appearance. It would not matter what shoes you are wearing, what you hairdo you sport, or if you own the latest designer jeans. Everyone would rely on their strong character and not their looks. People would get to know others based on their personality and not on their external facade. Other factors such as sense of humour, humility, intelligence, ambition, common interests would determine a person’s desirability, and not their genetics which are completely out of their control.
Let’s be honest, more times than none we are disappointed by the people’s personalities who we would consider beautiful on the outside. Therefore, why not focus on inner beauty instead? Why is this rational idea so difficult for us to grasp?
In honour of my blind date, I challenge you to try to look at individuals as though you are in a dark room. Discover their inner qualities, the exterior is extraneous.
I leave you with a special excerpt from my favourite childhood book The Little Prince. Sometimes adults forget that the innocence and naivety of a child is the best route in manoeuvring through this life.
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye” –Antoine St-Exupery, The Little Prince.
