Sight and Vision

Maddy Mathis
Aug 9, 2017 · 2 min read

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision — Helen Keller.

The vast majority of people have the ability to have light waves filtered through the eyes only to be interpreted by the brain. But that only takes the kind of brainpower that can be done by anything from humans to the tiniest of insects.

This does not mean that those without sight are somehow lesser than those with sight: let’s face it, that would mean implying to some degree the vast majority of the human population is inferior to some so-called “natural” standard as most require glasses or contacts for at least one function of living. Even if they were lesser than, there is no question which would be preferable between the absence of a physical feature that can be adapted to and the absence of a mental acuity that cannot be taught. Having vision takes multiple cerebral skills: creativity, planning, commitment.

Vision here means to not only anticipate but be able to carry out a needed task. And barring for certain jobs, e.g. maybe a fighter pilot should not be blind, having sight is not required to live a fulfilling life. Vision, however, is what allows for self-actualization. The fighter pilot needs vision to go ahead with training and to determine their motivation for possibly sacrificing everything up to their life, otherwise they are still stuck on the ground. The wannabe who is kept from their dreams due to blindness, however, also needs vision to dream up a new goal. Perhaps they will write the story of the figurative fighter pilot they were to be, and they draw out the harrowing internal and external conflict they would have gone through, and who is to say which of them has more skill? All that can be said is the person without vision is with no skill.

This prompt was inspired by the essay scholarship available at www.marveloptics.com. If you liked this, please 💚/comment/share, as this is a factor in judging. You know any college student appreciates a scholarship as a going away gift!

Maddy Mathis

Written by

Full-time student, part-time writer. Which means I do time and a half.

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