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| Story ID: | 3523 |
| Written by: | Edie Suarez (bio, link, contact, other stories) |
| Organization: | Basics2Bylines - A WNY Writers' Network |
| Story type: | Musings, Essays and Such |
| Location: | Anywhere Everywhere On Earth |
| Year: | 2008 |
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Can't See a Thing It’s a fact that the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound, but if nobody had sight, who would know? The scientific aspect of a sightless world is mind-boggling. Science is based on behavioral studies, with observation playing a big role in the process. Sightless evaluations would be based on sounds, smells, taste and touch. These senses would surely be heightened to compensate for the lack of sight. Sounds would be richer. Smells would intensify. Poor compensation, though, for the allergy laden folks. The term “color-blind” would have no meaning. The question to be answered wouldn’t be, “If a tree falls in the woods and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make noise?” Instead, the question might be, “If the leaves on a tree change color, but no one can see them, do colors exist?” The world would be a completely different place. There would be no books, because, after all, who could read them? There would be no blackboards or overhead projectors, no libraries, no pens or pencils. Trend setters wouldn’t set trends based on looks. There would be a new set of priorities when determining what’s cool and what’s not. Clothes would be rated by feel and durability, not visual design. There would be no gangs wearing “colors”. Sports, not to mention sport's fans, would seem to have no purpose in a vision-free world. How can you score if you can’t find the goal? Spectator sports require fans who can observe the action. How could referees properly judge a game, if they can’t see the play? Although some might argue that there are refs today who seem to be blind to the true action of the game. Sports would have to be redesigned to accommodate the sightless. Marco Polo would be right up there in the list of games to play. Would man have evolved in the same pattern in a sightless world? Would he have bothered to stand upright, or maybe he'd just have stayed on all fours for a “hands-on” kind of navigation? Perhaps radar would have developed in man, as with bats? Or maybe everyone’s psychic abilities would have evolved, making life more of an intellectual experience and less physical. The commercial industry would be quite different. It has to follow, that if the product doesn’t exist, than the production won’t take place. Many of today’s essentials would be obsolete in a vision-free world. Makeup and hair dyes, mirrors, glasses, contact lenses - any visual aids or enhancements would not be required. Movies, televisions, video games, computers – all unheard of and unthought of. What would the kids of today do? All technological, scientific, medical, and educational advancements, as we know them today, would be of a different nature. You couldn’t send mail as we know it, but the messenger business would be a “big” money-making profession. To be really good at being a messenger, you would have to have a great memory. The better your memory, the bigger the message you could carry. Of course, I think remembering the message would be easy compared to navigating to the delivery destination. Transportation would undergo an immense transformation. After all, no one wants to be on the road with a sightless driver behind the wheel of a car, although it does seem that some people today have that problem. No one would be flying a plane. Automobiles of any sort would pretty much be nonexistent. Just think of the ecological impact. Air pollution would be almost nonexistent. Global warming would not be a consideration. It seems that the ecological system would benefit the most from a world that didn’t include sight for humans. ____________________ A Sightless Situation If we couldn’t see Then where would we be Would we have evolved To stand tall like a tree? Reach for the stars Would mean nothing to us There wouldn’t be rockets No, not even a bus Would people have scattered So far across lands If navigational skills Depended on hands? And what about colors And styles, and books? You can’t judge a book’s cover If you can’t see its looks So, thank God for your senses Especially your sight And enjoy life as you see it Through the day and the night |
