The Blind leading the blind...not such a bad thing

Music whispers quietly in the background of my local gym as I make my way out towards the parking lot. Its been a good, challenging session, a usual day, nothing to be overly excited about.

I look down at my feet as I stroll over the gym floor. My feet follow one another in a slow smooth rythym as my eyes gaze in a trans at the patterns on the floor. Past the tread mills, then the stationary bikes and the orbitrex machine, I walk, slowly, thinking about everything but nothing at the same time. My head hangs but I am not down, I came here for business and I don't want to disturb anyone getting their work done, I look at nobody. The clanging of weights and the squeaking of the circuit timer make me aware of where I am. Its a place to escape, to dream your dreams in the presence of other dreamers while sweat drips down your brow and pain enters every inch of your body.

I continue slowly until an arm reaches out from the direction of the abdominal section and blocks my path. I get caught thinking negatively and my face shows the dissatisfaction of being disturbed. "Are you the guy that cycled to Cape Town from Witbank," he asks.

My face should light up, my heart should ignite and my words should bubble over in excitement for the three epic journeys that have changed my life...but...they don't. I hate the attention! I want to hide behind my words written from behind a keyboard while lying in my tent as a storm rages outside. I want to hide behind a still photograph that shows a smile on my face while I pedal where no man should be riding. I fight my feelings and try to be the light in the darkness that shines to give others hope, but I struggle. Id prefer to be the faceless soldier, hiding behind a grid iron battle mask, that represents an ideal rather than just another man.

I stretch out my hand, smile shyly and admit that its me, while scrambling to put my phone and keys on the bench to shake his hand. After three years of cycling I am still unconvinced of my achievement as to whether it is something that should be admired by others or not. Its something that every single person is capable of. None the less I try my utmost best to look amazingly confident in my adventures.

We engage in a conversation and the man tells me his name while asking question after question about my trips. I attempt to answer in the the little amount of time I have been given but know, I can only express the tiniest of fraction of the true experience. After sharing my story in a pathetically short unimpressive summary. The man, a lean but strong African, approximately the same hight as me, who I have now come to know as Kenny, begins to engage me in a story about a fellow colleague of his.

His colleague is partially blind and each year his sight deteriorates drastically. As Kenny describes the troubles the man goes through on a daily basis walking to work, my mind takes me away as I try to imagine the difficulties of his condition. Its not long before my eyes begging to blink fastest and I feel tears building up in my eyes. Kenny has only been speaking for a minute but it feels as though I know his colleague well enough to sympathize with him. My emotion begins to show as he describes the mans two comrades marathon finishes only being able to see a few feet in front of him at a time. I cannot fathom the difficulty of his achievement and feel it only natural to feel overly sorry for the man.

Its then that Kenny says something extremely profound, "He can only see a little in front of him, if you call him from far, he has no idea who is calling him." The words echo in my mind as the sentence filters down to the deepest chambers of my heart. And then, it dawns on me. This "blind" individual is someone who we can learn a great deal from in our daily life. If we can only but look a couple of meters ahead of us at a time, we will perfect the small steps in between our goals. While staring at mountains we stumble on the pebbles at our feet. Though he cannot see far away, the man makes use of the vision he does have to examine that which is close much more intensely than an average man.

This man with little vision may perhaps have taught me to have more vision and has inspired me without even being present. This stranger, who I do not know, has become an inspiration to me. Never be so closed minded about your achievements that you cannot stop to draw a lesson from those which walk around us on a daily basis.

Keegan "Kunjani" Longueira