The gift of vision

It was around 11:30 AM today morning. I was trying to get to my car dealer and get a few formalities done before lunch. Oh yeah…it was Friday, and some people must have decided to take off early from office I thought. The traffic was bustling in the road adjacent to my workplace. I was pretty frustrated for having waited at the lights for a pretty long time now. Just then, this woman caught my attention. No… she didn’t have long hair, she didn’t have bright blue eyes and neither was she stunning. (This was just for people who would have let their mind’s eye flow the instant I mentioned the phrase ‘woman’).This woman looked lost.

“Is she crazy? She shouldn’t be walking on this road which doesn’t have a sidewalk”, I said to myself. I could only see her from the back.

The road she was walking on was right next to the I-610 ramp. I have never seen anyone walking on this road before. Right before I could make any further comments….she turned around. A cold pulse ran across my spine. I didn’t feel really good. The woman was ‘blind’. She was really struggling to find her way with her stick. She moved back and forth between a patch of lawn and the parking lot of a company on the same road. It was hardly 2-3 mins before I could tolerate seeing this.

With some apprehension, I pulled my car into the parking lot and advanced towards this woman.

“Excuse me Maam, can I help you”, I asked.

I don’t think she quite understood what I asked or wasn’t sure if I were talking to her. I went closer and asked her the same question again.

“I’m trying to get to Westheimer, I think I got off the wrong stop”, she replied. She sounded fretful.

She looked like she had Mexican roots, but spoke very good English. She was completely unaided. I wondered how the bus driver could be so careless. Westheimer was nearly 2 miles from the place we were right now. I thought I could offer her a ride, but it would be a real discomfiture if she denied my offer. And considering how creepy some of the people in the society are, I wouldn’t be really surprised if she did repudiate my offer.

Looking for a couple of minutes, I couldn’t resist my willingness to help the stranded woman.

“I’m on my way by Westheimer, I could drop you if u want to”, I offered.

I could see the relief on her face. She gleefully accepted my offer as I took her by hand helped her into my car. I wanted to be very careful in mincing my words when I drove her to the place in Westheimer. The only thing I had in mind was to make sure that I didn't made her uneasy by talking about something related to her vision. 2 miles was just a 5 minute distance as soon as I was able to pass the lights. We didn’t talk much before I dropped her off, but I learnt from her that someone she knew worked in Westheimer. I somewhat was induced with a mixed feeling. On one hand, I was sorry on how helpless and stranded some blind people can get. On the other hand, I felt good having helped her. And when I was riding back to the office after getting my errands done, I was lost in thought imagining a day out in the city, with both my eyes blinded by a black cloth.

I earnestly salute the people who decide to take on the world despite their physical limitations. HATS OFF!