Shutting an eye can be just as difficult
as shutting an ear, believe it or not.
–Lars Gustafsson
Dear Lars: In my country the vast majority have accomplished the most difficult thing and have managed to shut their eyes. We were good at keeping them open until the American Bicentennial, but something happened in the mid 70’s and people began closing their eyes like angry children. Was it the military industrial complex? JFK? Viet Nam? Watergate? Birds flew into windows. Adolescents ran away. Tiny cyclones swept through tasteful living rooms. Books piled up on desks. One said TV killed democracy. Another said it was insatiable vanity. Soon librarians shut their eyes. And students, who once were our vanguard, they fell asleep.
Lars, those who kept their eyes open by means of strength and sorrow, through sad cheer– they felt themselves standing on the perilous front of a lost battle–the only place where they might confess their hope.
Planet of the Blind 