[Graeme … is fully blind and his wife, Dianne, is legally blind. … ‘What I’d like to see is my wife,’ he says. ‘I’ve never seen her.’ And I wipe a tear away from my own eye, relieved that he can’t see me doing that, and then I can’t help myself from saying something that feels sentimental and dumb and awkward and maybe more than a little insensitive, but I have to say it because I just saw the amount of love in Dianne’s eyes that she has for her husband. ‘She’s beautiful, Graeme.’ I say. ‘I know,’ he says, warmly and softly, gently nodding his head, more tears welling in his broken eyes. ‘I don’t have to see her to know that.’
Love is blindness
Dalton 2001 p21ff
For Graeme and Dianne, love has ‘come alongside’ each of them. I love that love that does that! Love ‘comes alongside’.
A couple of images of love that come to mind, either suggested or inferred from this story:
- #01 Love comes alongside. One could imagine a picture of someone quietly smiling, or even in tears, coming alongside a loved one as they celebrate, grieve, or sleep, or
- #02 Love is blindness. Another picture comes to mind of a guide dog, trained to lead a visually impaired person, gently resting its head on the knee of its companion with the companion’s hand resting on the dog’s head.
I can’t help wondering at those times when life seems cruel, and there is much to grieve; it is at those times it is the hardest to see, feel or sense love. When love ‘comes alongside’ to suffer with us, it is often hard to recognise. Perhaps it’s hard to recognise because, for some, ‘alongside love’ can never be real or tangible enough. A touch, a word, or a quiet presence can’t be experienced when the depth of suffering or grief blocks it. Nevertheless, can not love ‘come alongside’ regardless of whether it is experienced at that moment? Even if it is not recognised for what it is?
Tears of suffering. Tears of love. Both salty and mixed. Even on a good day.
edited: phildup55 ~ JAN2023
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