English
Português
Deutsch
Eco123 Revista da Economia e Ecologia
Sunday, the 26th Abril 2020
you have 500 words with which to tell me your story. Good morning. I’ve just woken up and discovered I’m blind. It’s still early in the morning. I open my eyes and I want to look at my phone to see what time it is. Everything’s dark. Is the phone broken or is it me…? This isn’t a dream. It’s more like a nightmare. This is real, isn’t it? I’m taking that test. I’m imagining myself having gone blind in an instant. Nothing that seemed familiar to me only moments ago is the same as before. What will I do without my eyesight? Without my mobile phone with all those messages and photos? From one moment to the next, I’ve lost my sight. I woke up and now it’s dark. I’m disoriented. I get out of bed and feel my way carefully to my desk. I find the switch and turn on the light. For me, everything remains dark. From now on, how will I find my way in this new black world? How will I behave, in these new times of complete uncertainty and insecurity? And how will I deal with this darkness? It scares me. I’m unfamiliar with all of this. I try to reorient myself. Where am I in this world? I sit down.
No, I can’t live like this. Not without my eyesight, at least not right away. I’ll have to work it out myself. I’m confused. I feel defenceless. First of all, I’d better bring a halt to all my usual activities, drain away all the energy that has always moved me. Now I sit on a chair, in my armchair. I remember where I am. With my fingers, I feel my surroundings. I have a room, my ears are working, and so is my sense of touch. I can speak, make myself understood and I can smell as well. That’s something. I’m alive after all. It must still be early. I wonder if I’m the only one who can’t see anymore, or if everyone else is blind too? What an idea that is! The ground beneath my feet is moving. I can’t explain why I suddenly can’t see anymore. From one moment to the next. My 500 words are almost over and my story still doesn’t make sense.
Usually when I wake up at this time, I go to my desk and turn on my laptop. Light and colour appear on the monitor. I start to write. My monitor has now gone dark. How do I deal with this? How do I deal with this new situation? No eyesight, no basis for working. What does a blind journalist do? I don’t know braille, not yet anyway. Behold, says the blind man, I shall feel comfortable in this new world, I shall settle in, I want to learn something new, to reorient myself. If only it were that simple… Fifteen more words to go. Twelve, ten, nine… Where am I going? Now I really am imagining how beautiful life can be on this planet. Good morning.
