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23. Blind and Kind
Philip is 55 and blind. He has been
since birth. He says he does not feel
he is missing anything, because he cannot imagine
sight is like. He can smell a rose,
he cannot tell if it is red, white,
blue. It does not matter to him; he
the beauty of the scent itself.
People sometimes
pity on him, but he tells them he
a contented man; he does not feel cheated
Mother Nature. The doctors never figured out why
was born blind.
But his life is not
bed of roses. It is difficult for him
travel. He cannot drive, of course; he travels
bus. At home, he cannot just look out
the window to see what the weather is
, and then dress appropriately. He can’t look at
clock on the wall to see what time
is. He uses his Braille watch or a
radio for that.
He must always put everything
the same spot in his apartment. If he
’t, “I’ll spend forever looking for it,” he laughs.
can look for and look at, but he
see. He says strangers often correct themselves when
to him. They’ll say, “I see,” meaning “I
.” But then they think they’ve been rude, so
’ll correct themselves and say, “I mean, I understand.”
has never seen a good movie or a
TV show. He has no idea what a
or a full moon looks like. He is
musician. He plays the saxophone, but not in
band. Four times a week, he travels to
Town in Pasadena on the bus in the
. He gets off at the bus stop and
finds his way across the street to The
, a hat store. On the sidewalk in front
The Cap is his “spot.”
He unfolds an
chair and assembles his sax after taking it
of the case. He sits down and starts
up. He puts a hat, upside down with
in it, on top of the case. “The
keeps the hat from blowing away,” he says. “
also lets people know where to put their
. I usually spend about four hours here. I’ll
from $10 to $30. One evening I made
$100. Another evening, someone stole everything. I guess
needed it more than I did.”
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