"The most pathetic person in the world
is someone who has sight but no vision"
Helen Keller
 |
| Vasca's eyes at the age of fourteen |
My eye doctor has me on a very strong vitamin I take 3 times per day; that isn't doing enough so he added fish oil...aargh...one per day. Believe me, I'm fishy enough without any assistance!
I rebelled a couple of days and decided enough already, but? The thought of losing such a precious gift caused me to ask forgiveness! I'm developing gills and swimmin' right along...every day!
Frivolity aside...eyes are marvelous gifts from God...such precious, wonderful gifts. I'm wide-eyed with just looking.
Thankfully the eyes still have it and I've been blest to see many rare sights! Like?
Like this...I saw pitiful eyes during Michael's one year tour in Massawa Ethiopia...which is now Eritrea! Massawa is a major port on the Red Sea. M was Port Commander there a few years prior to the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie...and the civil war that gave Eritrea independence from Ethiopia in the 70's.
It was very, very hot...also quite dry; drought was the norm! We would drive into the city along a dirt road (most things were dirt and dirty) and the sight was not a pretty one...very sad. Lining that road were people of all ages from the very young to the most aged. The road wasn't the only thing that was lined...those poor souls had flies around each eye, like eye-liner, searching for a taste of water. And they never bothered to brush them away! Makes you wanna' throw up, right? You got it.
Not surprisingly that country has the highest rate of blindness in the world. So many precious eyes lost...and the experts say it's mostly due to poor sanitation practices, etc. Water is in short supply...that's a precious commodity too, right? They live differently there...we are so blest here!
Michael had a maid...Assafas...a very lovely Coptic Christian with a beautiful cross tattooed on her forehead; the daughter of a tribal chieftain she had divorced her husband who retained custody of their child. She was forced from the tribe to find her own way. She cooked, cleaned and did laundry for M (M had the whitest clothes I've ever laid eyes on). Later on her half-sister, Ababa, came to live with her and she cleaned M's car each morning...such a life, huh?
Having Ethiopian coffee outside every afternoon was a native ritual...and not wishing to offend Assafas, I joined her 'coffee circle'...my presence gave her much prestige! She built the charcoal fire in a small container, roasted the few beans...then ground them w/a pestle. From another container she poured hot water through a strainer of horses hair and voila! Neigh....neigh. In the over 100 degree shade we sipped our muddy coffee. Incidentally, I never drank coffee 'til we lived in Greece and I learned to drink Turkish coffee...aka mud. Go figure!It was a dangerous time in Ethiopia and life wasn't of much value. M and the 2nd in command lived in a house on the Red Sea (matter of fact, the sea was at their back door) at the end of a causeway...one way in and out. Barred windows and doors...no guards! One a/c only and it was for the bedroom which was used only at night when it would cool the room down to 98 degrees...coolish, huh? And dark...so dark my eyes could distinguish nothing...creepy!
One of the American soldiers was murdered just prior to my arrival and from then on Michael was restricted to the city limits unless flying out by plane...which we did on several occasions. My mother would have freaked out if she had only known...we took off and landed on camel strips supervised by those ships of the desert...how wild is that? Each plane we flew in had a failure of some kind or other...from very serious (as in dangerous) to mildly serious...aargh!
M bought a very well used wooden dhow (pictured right) and christening it "Vasca" painted a playboy bunny and Vasca on the sail...woohoo! He also used a little Ethiopian man as 'Captain' when we went sailing (he spoke only Arabic, we spoke only English) so one morning the two of us, a basket lunch and the 'Captain' set out in the Red Sea for a nearby island where we were left for the day w/the promise to retrieve us late in the afternoon. What if he didn't come back? No swimming home 'cause of the jellyfish...ouch. Trusting God is a very wise action...yes?
Some things M & I saw there disappeared soon after our departure.
Haile Selassie was deposed and Eritrea won its independence; the royal family was systematically disposed of and the 'Lion of Judah' reigned no more!
M saw him several times, I saw him only twice; he was most impressive!
I'm doing my utmost to 'really see' things, but more important than seeing things is seeing people...looking into their eyes and SEE-ing what's going on inside. That's very important to me. People matter. Doesn't matter how unimportant one might seem to be...that one really matters and deserves looking at. Diamonds in the Rough...so to speak.
Language? Doesn't matter. I'm a multi-tasker so I can look and smile at the same time and that can do wonders. Much of the time the smile's returned! Besides, I'm often surprised at what it leads to...God knows I'm receptive and He's working it...might open someone eyes...possibly open a new door?
Remember, "The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision."
My vitamin bottle says "Maxi-Vision"...I don't want to be pathetic so...
here's looking at you the maxi-est!
From my heart...to yours!
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