Topic: Dailies

by

Leo Crocker Rogers

Welcome. Come in and have a seat. Are you comfortable? Good. So let me continue to tell you of our best excursion to date. Remember, Ryan and I are blind.

We were at the merry-go-round with a horse, of course. Seers talk about the bright colors of the horses and the green grass and beautiful flowers of the park. To Ryan and me, it is all about the sounds. We are in Balboa Park, San Diego, California. Mind you, the merry-go-round is only operable on Saturday and Sundays in non-summer months. Just so you know, in case you want to feel part of what I am about to share with you.

So here is the most exciting thing ever. Ryan and I mount horses on the outside row of the merry-go-round. As the horses circle and the organ plays, someone loads a long spout that has metal rings in it. The spout is then swung toward us from the outside of the merry-go-round so if Ryan or I or anyone reaches out from the horse, we can extract a metal ring from the spout by putting a finger in the part of the ring that extends from the spout. Everyone tires to grab a ring. It took Ryan and me six months to learn where to place our arms and hands to grab a ring. If we reached too far, our hands were slapped by the spout and it hurt, but let me tell you, we were committed to grabbing a ring. We knew we were getting close when just our fingers touched the spout. I reached the spout before Ryan as I am taller, and it was easier for me to reach out. I had to encourage Ryan for weeks to let him know it was possible because all he knew was that he either grabbed air or was slapped with the spout. He did not know I had grabbed a ring. We saved our money, and every Saturday our seeer would take us to the merry-go-round. The sounds of the peacocks in the nearby zoo, the fragrance of jasmine, the clickity-clack of the nearby miniature railroad, and the once in a while commercial aircraft soaring overhead meant we were where we most wanted to be.

Seers talk about heaven. They say they have never seen heaven, but they say it is where they want to be some day. To Ryan and me, heaven is now. It is Balboa Park. Poor seers, if they only could see what we see.

Now here is the deal. After you grab a metal ring, it is about the size to fit a baby elephant’s baby finger, you are to throw the ring at a small burlap clown that is inside a room with the door facing you. Actually, there is no door, but that is what I have been told. If you miss the clown or even if you hit the clown, the ring goes into the room and is collected to be used again. If you hit the clown, I don’t know what happens, I guess seers rejoice. When Ryan and I cut lose and throw the ring, there are consequences as the ring can go into the room or into the crowd – "Watch out! It is the bind ones throwing." We added excitement to other’s day at the park.

Throwing the ring blind is an adventure that seers can only imagine. We had to learn when to throw the ring. And that is a story in and of itself.

The misses were spectacular, we were told. After a year of learning by sound where the spout was and where the clown was, we were able to grab a ring and throw it into the room. We laughed, enjoyed the organ music, the feel of the wind, the contact with the horse of course, and grabbing a ring and throwing the ring without having someone yell, "Duck!!! It is the blind ones!"

Ah, but the real thrill of thrills is yet for me to share. One of the many metal rings is a brass ring and grabbing the brass ring is something that seldom happens to Ryan and me because we cannot see the difference in color between the orangish brass ring and the bluish steel rings. Even so, we learned a way to grab the brass ring. And that will be a story for another time. Do come back.

Blind is natural. Seeing is distracting. Sort of like Ryan says, "Blind in matter is seeing in spirit." I agree. It is a mental world and the blind see that more clearly than seers.

See you around the bend. Blind humor, of course.