The Hypothetical Debate

Sorry I left you for so long! I went to visit my Big Mommy (my dad's mom), and I didn't have internet access, so sadly, I could not blog. :(

On the three hour ride up there, I actually stayed awake, which I never do. I'm one of those people who just sits down and passes out, but I guess I was in the mood to stare out the window. As I sat there, staring out the window, lots of thoughts started to spin in my head. I was taken back to a conversation that I had with a few of my close friends. I was sitting with Gwyn, Bonnie and Ellis, and we were doing my favorite time passer: drinking in the park. Now I don't remember how we got started on this topic; perhaps it had to do with the solicitor who was raising money for something that I don't remember. I honestly don't remember. But anyway, we were discussing whether we would rather lose our sight or hearing.

I had a professor who asked us this question, and he said that losing sight cuts you off from objects, while losing sound cuts you off from people. We debated this, and I think that we finally decided that it was a horrible hypothetical situation and we no longer wanted to play the game.

While on my car ride, I saw mountains, hills, all different types of trees, animals, cars and a ton of other things that I take for granted. I couldn't imagine not being able to see anything again. I think about when I talk to my friends on the phone and how I want to get a sense of where they are so that I can visualize it. It would hard to never see the smiling faces of the people I love.

Then I started to think of the music I was listening to, and how music plays an important part in my life and helps me keep my sanity. I thought about how hearing a song that I haven't heard in a long time can turn the day around. And then I thought about the voices and the laughter of the people I love. How do you live without that? One of my favorite sounds in the world is my dad's laugh. He has the best laugh. One of my favorite sights in the world is my mom's face when I'm telling her an exciting story. She just takes the excitement to a whole other level.

I had these thoughts swirling in my head and then I thought about the quote "is it better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all." Is it? If someone has never experienced sight, then s/he doesn't necessarily know what s/he is missing. Obviously s/he knows that s/he is missing out, but how do you comprehend something that you've never experienced? Is that person's life worse than the person who had sight but then lost it? Is it like reading a book? When I read Lord of the Rings, I had the hobbits and Middle Earth pictured a certain way, but then I saw the movie and they were so different. If you've never seen a tree, then you just have an idea of what it is in your head, and it's not until you actually see it, that it comes together.

After spending a decent amount of time debating this in my head, I decided that it was bringing me down and I opted out of the conversation with myself. I prayed that I would spend the rest of my life with my vision and hearing. And then I decided to never again have hypothetical conversations with myself.