There’s a terrific post by Michael Jernigan over at the NY Times which details his experiences with his first guide dog. Mr. Jernigan lost his vision while fighting for our country. His new guide dog helps him live a fast moving life and as he so beautifully demonstrates, this is a life of love. In other words, what we learn from our dogs is a kind of shy, unasked for optimism.
It is so terribly hard to talk about he spirit. Its as though a diver could describe the water’s almost carnal surroundings, the way the water’s loveliness feels to the flesh–the way this makes us wish to move. In my memoir Planet of the Blind I describe the act of walking through Grand Central Station in New York City, walking in the company of my own first guide dog “Corky” as a kind of motion that feels like a breeze from Jerusalem. Love, movement, hopeful expectation, optimism, all these things come when you work with a guide dog.
I suppose I think everyone should have a guide dog.
In any event, those of us who travel with our beloved canine pals shall not linger among the masked figures of pessimism. We’re too busy.
S.K.
Planet of the Blind 