Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Sophomore%2C+Lyndsay+Valadez

David Worland

Sophomore, Lyndsay Valadez

Lyndsay Valadez, Reporter

Rolling out of bed in the morning rubbing my eyes, I prepare myself to see the dark figures illuminated by the little light seeping through the curtains. The dark figures are only pieces of furniture in my room, but I can see them.

It’s a blessing and a curse, being able to see. I wish, though, that we didn’t have to see, that it wasn’t normal to see. We wouldn’t have to see the tragic face of disappointment, the scrunched up sour face when something isn’t as pleasing as expected, the false advertisements on T.V. We would not be able to create these false judgements of people in the first place.

Someone who can see and someone who is visually impaired are not going to find the same tree beautiful for the same reasons because a blind person can see pure nothingness.  According to Jim Davies, an associate professor at the institute of cognitive science at Carleton University, there is a distinction in your brain between what we see and what we perceive with the rest of our senses.

Our eyes make us figuratively blind. Obviously, if you can not see, you are literally blind. However, our eyes also make us blind to the things we can see, too. In today’s society, you have to wear certain things or look a certain way to “fit in” just as people have done in past societies.

I wish everyone was blind. If this was so, these ideas would have never been conceived. If everyone was blind, people would have to live up to more reasonable standards. Beauty would no longer be based upon who wore the dress better. It would be based upon each person’s internal thoughts and feelings. Neither are more beautiful than the other, the thing is, both are beautiful from within.

If I couldn’t see, I wouldn’t think that a person looking at me is judging me. I wouldn’t think about how frizzy my hair was that day or if my clothes matched because it would not matter. What would matter is how loving a person is and how much that person cares for others.

A society of blind people would be a happier place. English actress Rebecca Atkinson is going blind, as she stated in an article from The Guardian. She doesn’t find that going blind has made her a nicer individual, but it has made her more empathic and open-minded.

By definition the more open-minded people become, the less judgemental they become. With less judgement, people would not only be happier with themselves, but happier with each other. Happiness is a common goal most want to reach in their lifetime. The constant downpour of judgement makes this goal less attainable.

However, once a person is happy it makes it more obtainable, according to Psychology Today.  Happiness is a contagious cycle. Happier people give off more positive feelings and make others feel that way too. Going along with that, happy people often seek other happy individuals to surround themselves with.

A happy, blind person would not always surround themselves with someone who smiles all of the time. However, they would surround themselves with people who positively talk and care for others with rightful intentions. Looks are deceiving. A non-blind and blind person are both blinded by their eyes, just in different ways.