Three days left to see...

[Boo]

I have to write and direct a video starting with a question. Yes, this is for school. Now, I would usually be limited to people within the school since I don't have a proper camera (and I'm quite shy when asking people questions in real life), but luckily the internet exists.

--------------------------------------

I am here to ask you all a question based on an essay by Helen Keller.

Where she asked herself "What would I do if I had three days to see?" I ask you "What would YOU do if you had three days left to see?"

The idea is that you know you only have three days left. Your sight will not degrade, but will stop altogether at the end of those three days. The countdown would begin at the time you awake the morning after finding out. At that point you would have 72 hours until complete blindness.

What I want you to do when responding is I want you to really (and I mean thoroughly) think about this. You can be silly if you want, but try to not go over the top.

I hope that was as clear as can be.

P.S. Unless otherwise specified by a responder, all of the chosen messages will be anonymous and read by myself or another (possibly a different number of people). Try not to think of this as any sort of competition, however. It is by no means intended as one.

[Dr. Bath]

Deal with getting aids for when I do finally go blind. Computers that speak the text on the screen etc. Securing a seeing-eye dog. Learn brail.

Then visit as many art galleries as possible.

[reorith]

i'd stare at the sun for a whole day, grinning stupidly about how i'm beating the dead line.

[Exeson]

-Removed- due to hindsight.

[Crimmy]

First of all, see the girl i love one last time. Then see a nice painting, and some fine museums. I would start a videoconversation with my far-away relatives.

I would then log off from my e-mail, Forums, etc, on the PC, and say goodbye to my videogames saves.

On the last day, I would go to the top of a building, but instead of what Exeson said, I'd just stare intho the sky.

The next morning, I would start learning Braille, get me a nice cane and a watch dog.

[Jack Squat]

I'd ponder the ridiculousness of the circumstances and then contact my friends to see who wants to go on a 3 day road trip.

After I go blind, I'd either become DareDevil or try to acquire these (http://biology.about.com/library/weekly/aa012000a.htm).

[Icewalker]

Deal with getting aids for when I do finally go blind. Computers that speak the text on the screen etc. Securing a seeing-eye dog. Learn braille.

This. Exactly this. Clear up that I'm going to be blind with people I know, if I had a job tell them, etc etc. But mostly prepare for it. I mean, we'll have full prosthetic eyes within our lifetime, so I'm not too worried about getting in any last sights.

[arguskos]

stirring stuff
...wow. That is a lovely and moving piece right there. My applause sir, for your writing skill and dedication to those you care for. :smallredface:

Granted, what Bath said below has some merit to it, but still, the skill of the writing has some real talent to it.

My personal actions would be to simply find out anything I need to in order to make my life while blind the same as it was while I had sight.

[Dr. Bath]

Wow, Exeson, that is ridiculously insensitive to your loved ones. Not to mention slightly insulting to blind people. It's not worth living if you can't see is what you're saying, and that simply isn't true.

I have multiple blind or partially sighted relatives, and know from experience that losing your sight doesn't stop life, it just means you need to find new ways around certain tasks.

[Boo]

Depending on the answers over the course of the weekend, I may have to change my question to something else. Although I don't want to do anything too cliche either...

I would still like people to respond to this topic regardless of my decisions since it's something to think about, and what are we if we cannot think?

[RabbitHoleLost]

I would watch Labyrinth one more time. Just once more. Look at every small detail in the movie, ever glimmer of glitter and every strand of David Bowie's hair.
And then, I would make the manthing go out with me. Look at a sunset over the river. Watch fireflies and make our own fire, even if its too cold, and observe how wood burns.
Every little detail of everything, that's what I'd memorize. The dark brown washing into gray in m boyfriend's hair, the little halfmoon of white at the top of my nails, the worms crawling around in the mud, everything.
I would not sleep until that third day came.

[Murska]

I would try to figure out why my sight is going to disappear and find out if I can do something about it.

[Boo]

And if you already knew you could not?

[Ichneumon]

I have nothing that I wish to "see for a last time", so I'd focus on getting all the support and aid I'd need when I do get blind. I'd likely inform my family and friends about it before I get blind, as that would be easier, I think, than after.

[MethosH]

I would stab my eyes on the second day. Control is everything.

[Kaelaroth]

I have no idea. So much of my life is based on what I can see that I don't know how I could live without my sight. Unlike Exeson, I'm not sure I have either the dire motivation, nor the balls, to kill myself because of losing such a sense, but I have no idea how I'd cope with it.

Three days? I'd watch some films. See my friends. Drink. Hop down to town to look at some of the world's most beautiful art.

Make sure I have enough sleeping pills.

Just in case I can't take it.

[Zar Peter]

Playing with the kids, telling them they don't have to do forbidden stuff behind my back anymore :smallbiggrin:

Looking for Braille stuff, learning books and where I get normal books in braille.

Trying to remember all the steps to my favorite pub (and try to remember the same when I'm going home drunk).

Apart from that I think I'll do everything I usually do but with more thought.

[Kneenibble]

I would definitely have to go out of the city to a place with very little light pollution and drink in the night sky -- the stars, the moon, and look at the planets through my dad's telescope. Yes, I think I'd want to see a whole day and night out at a quiet lake without any artificial light around, sunrise and sunset included fo sho.

And, to be perfectly honest, I'd want to look at some erotic body-aesthetic smut. I'd miss the shape of hot bodies.

I would much rather lose my sight than my hearing, though.

[CurlyKitGirl]

I would watch Labyrinth one more time. Just once more. Look at every small detail in the movie, ever glimmer of glitter and every strand of David Bowie's hair.

This. At first. I would watch every film that I ever treasured or held dear to my heart; no matter how cheesy, infantile, heartbreaking or horrifying.
I would empty an entire room, then take every one of my books (and books I loved), lay them all out on the floor and remember each and every one of them; rereading passages that I will miss the most. Then I would donate a lot of them to charity, keeping only the ones I couldn't bare to part with for sentimental reasons.
I would say goodbye to every one of the friends I met online because I might never be able to speak to them again.
I would visit all my of extended family and friends, remembering what they looked like.
Then, as I watch the morning begin for the final time, making the world blush under the gentle touch of the rising sun I would cry because I would never know what the person I would fall in love with looks like. I would cry for everything ugly that I would never see. I would cry for all the beauty I would miss. I would cry for everything that I saw. For everything I never did.

I would cry, because eventually I would begin to forget what everything looked liked no matter how much it mattered to me. Faces, shapes, forms, colours would fade, become monochromatic blobs no matter how I fought.
No matter how much I fight, I wouldn't be able to remember everything I wanted and needed to.
And so I would cry. And I would laugh.
Because when you know that what you see is the last of what you'll ever see the world becomes brighter, cleaner and so perfect that for the first and last time in my life I would truly see everything.
How could I not laugh when everything is so wonderful even when it's ugly? How can anything be ugly when I'll never see it again.

Everything would be perfect; and only I would know how beautifully perfect the world was.
It would be bliss. Blissful terror. Terrific bliss.
It would be awesome. I would spend my last seeing days in true awe.

I would know perfection, and then darkness. And even that would be perfect.

[Zar Peter]

I would much rather lose my sight than my hearing, though.

Actually for me it's the opposite. Don't need the noise as long as I can see...

And Curly, your writing touched me. Really.

[Mystic Muse]

I'd look for ways to help me before I go blind. I'd still want to play D&D and it should be possible still. After Doing that I'd watch every "Tom and Jerry" cartoon I could find since I'll never be able to enjoy them again. I'd also inform everybody I Know online that I won't be on anymore since I can't really read anymore and I'd have to abandon my webcomic.

Even so, I'd rather lose my sight than my hearing. I'd die without music.

[Exeson]

Wow, Exeson, that is ridiculously insensitive to your loved ones. Not to mention slightly insulting to blind people. It's not worth living if you can't see is what you're saying, and that simply isn't true.

I have multiple blind or partially sighted relatives, and know from experience that losing your sight doesn't stop life, it just means you need to find new ways around certain tasks.

I have Ocular Albinism, so I'm no stranger to sight difficulties, and the fact that you can always find a solution to a problem. The opener asked to think it through and to be brutally honest I cannot imagine what things would be like if I was blind. I cannot imagine how I would react to such a life changing event. Granted I probably wouldn't kill myself, that was a bit of play, but I find the idea of knowing how you would react to an event with such strong an impact highly irregular.

If you want the first answer I came up with it went along the lines of 'Run with it, cause it ain't stopping for me'. Sorry if I offended you.

[starwoof]

My whole life revolves around seeing. Without my sight I have essentially nothing. I suppose I could still... uh... nope, every single one of my hobbies or pastimes revolve around my sight.

I would get an ocarina and play the song of time backwards until I could find a solution.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Being brutally honest?

I'd probably enjoy what I could and is dear to me.
Then going blind would probably push me over the edge.

I'd write a long, long, long note. Rants, thoughts, and such included(long live blind typing).

Then I'd take my own life.

[Boo]

I find this all quite lovely. Really. It was so very moving to read the responses, and the amount of thought that has gone into them.

To people who say they cannot live without their sight I ask "Why?"

I'm not challenging your opinions, but I would like to know why you would end your life.

[Starfols]

Hmm, I would blindfold myself, I'm not qualified to make those sorts of decisions. I'd then probably join a monastery to perfect my kung-fu skills.

[Temotei]

I'm actually curious about blindness. What's it like?

Certainly, I hope I don't go blind, but it would be a unique experience.

I'd see my girlfriend for those three days, develop my other senses more, and learn braille.

Then, for kicks, I'd learn sign language. :smallbiggrin:

[Boo]

There are certain levels of blindness, but this particular topic is regarding complete blindness. I believe that the information on this level reveals that your other senses will pick up the slack (not by much, but a bit). Your mental ability might increase, but I don't think there's any evidence to fully support that...

To move around your home without much problem you'll be better off to memorise the layout, but otherwise "by touch" will do better than a "Mr Magoo Walk".

Getting around town can be quite difficult depending on where you live and how good you are (or how trained your seeing-eye dog is) on the street. Underground you'll really want a stick to see with.

The hardest thing for some people to adjust to is asking for help (or easiest if you're very social and like getting help). Dressing one's self, getting to places, reading, etc. After a while a newly blind person will get used to most of these.

This is by no means completely accurate, but this is my experience from talking to several blind folks in my own lifetime.

Oh, and there is a braille based computer monitor. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_Braille_display)

[Temotei]

There are certain levels of blindness, but this particular topic is regarding complete blindness. I believe that the information on this level reveals that your other senses will pick up the slack (not by much, but a bit). Your mental ability might increase, but I don't think there's any evidence to fully support that...

To move around your home without much problem you'll be better off to memorise the layout, but otherwise "by touch" will do better than a "Mr Magoo Walk".

Getting around town can be quite difficult depending on where you live and how good you are (or how trained your seeing-eye dog is) on the street. Underground you'll really want a stick to see with.

The hardest thing for some people to adjust to is asking for help (or easiest if you're very social and like getting help). Dressing one's self, getting to places, reading, etc. After a while a newly blind person will get used to most of these.

This is by no means completely accurate, but this is my experience from talking to several blind folks in my own lifetime.

Oh, and there is a braille based computer monitor. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_Braille_display)

You can never know until you've been there, yeah? :smallsigh:

I can imagine and ask blind people what it's like, but I'll never know exactly.

It's kind of like gay people. I'll never know what that's like.

[Dallas-Dakota]

I find this all quite lovely. Really. It was so very moving to read the responses, and the amount of thought that has gone into them.

To people who say they cannot live without their sight I ask "Why?"

I'm not challenging your opinions, but I would like to know why you would end your life.
I already have many, many problems with me and my body.

I'm a art student, if I go blind, I'd lose any real chance of continueing with that.
I'm not really fit to go study anything else(IF I could recover from the backlash of being blind and then if I was in a state to study anything while blind).
My main mean of transportation bicycle would be taken away from me.
Aside from the internet, a big entertainment for me are festivals, which I'd quite fail to even go to if I were blind. Let alone properly enjoy.

A braille computer sounds pretty spiffy, but I doubt my family could afford it.

Would taking my life hurt my dear ones? Yes.
But not so much as wasting away years after long, long years.

[kpenguin]

I would blind myself at some point over the three days.

I would rather my sight be taken by my own action than by some divine act of fate. I would rather damn fate and make own destiny.

[Kaelaroth]

I find this all quite lovely. Really. It was so very moving to read the responses, and the amount of thought that has gone into them.

To people who say they cannot live without their sight I ask "Why?"

I'm not challenging your opinions, but I would like to know why you would end your life.

Why?
Why?

I'll never know art again.
True reading will be denied me forever. I'll never looks upon the face of a lover, nor the body of a man, and know if I'm attracted to them.

I'll be ungainly and ungraceful. A once beautiful world will now be riddled with danger, as, unused to lack of sight, I stumble regularly in the darkness. I am denied contact with my friends - I find it hard to go out and see them, and if we were together, there are few activities we could easily share. Any chance of working in the fields I want to is denied me, almost instantaneously. I hate to be defined, and with the subtle prejudice against the sightless, I would likely the branded, and hate to be, as "blind".
Over time, my memories of what things are, how they look, and how things' looks made me feel with die.

I will be alone in my own mind, despite the thoughts that if I just "embrace braille", it'll be fine...

I am not so strong.

[Adlan]

What of Sculpture, What of music, are they not art? Indeed, I'm sure there would be a niche for a blind artist. Certainly more than a blind chemistry student.

I would go on a hunt. My Last Bowhunt. I'd enjoy the glare of the sun on snow, The green of the holly, the red of the blood. I'd drink in every sight I could. The North Sea, The Sunset and the Dawn, I'd go visit my GF and I'd go see a really good play or film. I'd hand in my uniform and Say good bye to my unit and then I'd go on a parachute jump.Then on the last day, I'd make myself a kickarse walking stick. on first day with no sight, I'd get up, do my exercises and start looking for a new place in the world, see what I could do of my uni course. Keep on going.

I could keep up some of my hobbies. you can get speaker software that reads the internet page for you. I could still whittle, though flintknapping would be harder, I could get someone else to do the major work and buy processed flints.

[Mystic Muse]

I just want to say that when I say I'd die if I became deaf it's Hyperbole. It'd suck a lot more than being blind for me for several reasons but I'd still be able to get through it.

I apologize if I was being insensitive to anybody by saying that.:smallfrown:

[Gamerlord]

Make all the necessary preparations just in case, then do whatever is necessary to stop this travesty.

[Exeson]

I find this all quite lovely. Really. It was so very moving to read the responses, and the amount of thought that has gone into them.

To people who say they cannot live without their sight I ask "Why?"

I'm not challenging your opinions, but I would like to know why you would end your life.

Well the interesting thing is I actually have Ocular albinism, and so I'm used to working with limited sight. This is why I have very good balance and why (my theory at least) I have good spatial awareness and excel at Judo.

Judo is one of the few sports you can perform to full potential whilst being blind, however I just cannot imagine what life would be like without sight, I try, but I just can't.

[Dr. Bath]

I have Ocular Albinism, so I'm no stranger to sight difficulties, and the fact that you can always find a solution to a problem. The opener asked to think it through and to be brutally honest I cannot imagine what things would be like if I was blind. I cannot imagine how I would react to such a life changing event. Granted I probably wouldn't kill myself, that was a bit of play, but I find the idea of knowing how you would react to an event with such strong an impact highly irregular.

If you want the first answer I came up with it went along the lines of 'Run with it, cause it ain't stopping for me'. Sorry if I offended you.

Nah, not particularly offended, but suicide always always seems like much too drastic a measure for me. So you have to adapt or perhaps in a worst case scenario stop your favourite hobbies? What of it? There's always plenty more to live for. The gentle crashing of waves on a beach, the texture of bark beneath your fingertips, the scent of roses carried on the breeze. There's still beauty without sight, still art without seeing. I dunno, such a negative outlook, such inflexibility doesn't sit right with me.

Well, considering there is a high chance of me going blind or at least losing most of my vision in later life, it's something I have actually thought about. (not to mention having been through the transition with family members already)

[loopy]

Three days? Damn, that means I wouldn't even be able to get a rave in before my sight died.

Cos I swear, laser light shows would be one of the things I'd definitely want to see one last time before I lost my sight. :smallfrown:

[Boo]

Another thing I would like to ask, if would not be too bothersome, would be a question for everyone only preparing for the coming of the fourth day:

What if everything was prepared beforehand? What would you do then with the days given?

@ Loopy: Say you could go to a rave... what then? (unless you're talking about some crazy 4 day rave that I've never conceived in my own mind before this moment.) What else would you do for those three days?

[Iferus]

I would tell my friends and relatives, prepare for life as a blind person (dog, cane, things around the house that can be operated without sight, a computer for blind people) and learn braille. The last night I will stay up and watch my girlfriend as she sleeps. Just to memorize every little freckle. With more time on my hands, I would probably visit all my friends and do something trivial.

[Shas aia Toriia]

Curly being awesome.

. . .

. . .

Damn.

Anwyays, I'd probably cram a lifetime's worth of porn into those 3 days. :smallwink:

[Groundhog]

I would probably try to squeeze in as much art (creation of) as possible.

If I were to suddenly go blind, I'd probably go out of my mind for a week or so, given that I am an artist/computer geek, something which is very visual-intensive. Life would go on eventually, but it would have to change so much that I can't even imagine it. But I think what I would miss the most is my independence, because I am also a very independent person.

[loopy]

@ Loopy: Say you could go to a rave... what then? (unless you're talking about some crazy 4 day rave that I've never conceived in my own mind before this moment.) What else would you do for those three days?

Hmm... Lets see, 12 hour rave, lasers, lightshows, and fireworks. Tune a girl while I'm there, watch the sun rise, fall into bed with her.

Wake up the next day, go to the beach. Watch the sun set over the water, go into the city, people-watch until late night, find a club, wash, rinse, repeat.

Find all my friends, and tell them every possible thing I can think of that I love about the way they look. Tearfully beg that they won't forget me when I am no longer able to see.

...I don't know what I'd do, really. I'm not prepared for such a drastic change. :smallfrown:

[Dragonrider]

I just wanted to say, to all the people who are talking about how it would be the end of their hobbies, way of life, etc . . . .

I know a girl who played softball. She played catcher (the person who squats behind the batter and catches the ball when they don't hit it) and she loved the sport, but she loved music more, and she wanted to be a professional musician. But in a softball practice when the batter swung, she came around wrong and clocked the girl on the head. Knocked her clean out.

After that, she started to lose her hearing. None of the doctors could tell her what had happened, though a lot of them though the softball incident was part of it. This is a girl who loved music. Who knew how to play half a dozen instruments and who was in three bands.

I can see that it might have been the end of the world as she knew it. She said that as she knew she was going deaf, that they couldn't stop it and that one day she wouldn't be able to hear at all, she started listening to music around the clock. All her favorite bands, turning it up louder and louder as the hearing went; and she learned to play the drums. At the same time, she took lessons in sign language and learned how to read lips, so that when her hearing was finally gone, she could already interact with people so easily they had a hard time telling she couldn't hear a thing.

And she still plays in a band. She's the drummer. She can still keep a rhythm and she still loves music - all those songs she memorized before she lost her hearing are still in her heard, but even if she's never heard a song before, she watches the singer and the instrument and she can drum. Really, really well. She's also one of the most upbeat people I know - I imagine that behind that there are times when life gets really, really, hard, but she made it through.


* * *

So if I went blind, I'd want to be like her. Read a hundred books before it was gone, and at the end of those three days, I wouldn't have lost touch-typing. I could still listen to music. I don't think I'd be able to go on with school, but it wouldn't end my life; just change it.

[CurlyKitGirl]

To people who say they cannot live without their sight I ask "Why?"

To be honest, it wouldn't be a close call; but it would break my heart, at least temporarily.
I am not the Goddess of the Written Word for nothing. I am a massive bibliomaniac who adores languages, linguistic and the written word. I can say with ease that I probably read more books/stories/text books in one year than more than ninety percent of people my age whether it be of my own free will or because of education.
While audio books and braille are certainly available for a lot of books; I have no doubt that probably seventy percent or more of my collection is neither avaiable in braille or on audio books.
I'm currently learning Old English as part of my university course; next year Middle English is a compulsory part od it. This, and many of my language studies would then become extremely difficult if not impossible.

Blindness, while it would destroy a major part of my life, is manageable. There are ways around it. Obviously, I'd rather give up another sense; and after a lot of thought it would be my Sense of Balance.
Out of the traditional five senses it would be smell, even if it would mean potential endangerment.

[Setra]

Three days left to see?

Assuming everything like seeing eye dogs and the like was taken care of?

I.. don't know.. I would probably be so shocked I'd just wait until it happened. I don't have the money to go sightseeing or anything of the like, I might tell all my friends online I'd probably never talk to them again.

I'd tell this forum goodbye and.. well I don't know. For all I know I'd break down crying, but I do know I'm not the type to kill myself... though if I were to go deaf too, then I really would consider it.

I'd probably go to a stripclub.

[reorith]

idk Setra, some of the things i wish i could unsee happened at strip clubs

[Partof1]

I would say goodbye to my online friends, and close my accounts, turn the voice reader setting for my iPod on, reread all my comic books, as novels can still be read aloud by others. I'd play a few games of Star Wars minis, in case I couldn't work out how to play blind. I'd want to get together all my friends, to see them as much as possible. I'd prepare a cane, and perhaps guides or something, and work out the described video for my tv. I would play some rounds of badminton, soccer, dodgeball, and the other sports I won't be able to do.

As my last day of sight comes to a close, I would stay awake until the end, taking in every detail of the yard.

*Note
Order of actions in no way determines priority.

[SMEE]

Many times it has crossed my mind what would be like being blind.

Personally, I'd face it like a new challenge. I'd enjoy my sight during those three days as much as I could. I'd see the moon, the sunrise and the sun set. I'd lay my eyes on my nephews and my parents one last time.
And start to try the other sensations. Those last three days I'd be so much more touchy than usual.
Play my favorite videogames for a whole day, trying to memorize the timing even further.
Install a reading software at my laptop. Feel the keyboard. It has signals to help blind people use it.

And when the day where the lights will be shut down come, I'd wake up and smirk before my new challenge, knowing that given time, I'll beat life in this little game.

[KuReshtin]

I would say goodbye to my online friends, and close my accounts...

Why? Just because you're blind doesn't mean that you can't go online. Inknow several people who are avid forum posters (not necessarily on these forums, though) even if they're blind, or so severely sight-impaired that they can't use a monitor.

There are tools one can use to work a computer even without a monitor.


Personally, I think I'd just go about things the normal way. I'd drive around a whole lot, though, since I do enjoy driving my car, and I think I'd miss that quite a bit.
I'd watch a heap of movies that I like, one more time, and I'd go see Avatar 3D, cause I haven't seen that yet, and I hear that it's something spectacular to watch.
Not as profound as a lot of others in this thread, but then again, I'm not really a profound kind of guy.

[Partof1]

Why? Just because you're blind doesn't mean that you can't go online.

True, I probably wouldn't close the accounts, though I doubt if I'd go online much. I don't like doing things where aid is absolutely necessary.

[Purple Rose]

If I knew I would be blind in three days, I would take the time to look each of my family members in the eye and tell them I love them. I would then watch Wall-e a bunch of times, followed by a complete screening of Firefly, then Howl's Moving Castle.

End day one

Having wasted a day watching the television, I would drive out to the ocean and watch the sun rise. After that I would take my car and drive. Anywhere. It wouldn't matter as long as I was driving. I would visit the mountains and speed along winding forested roads, passing through tunnels of trees pressing in on all sides. Maybe drive to the highest point I could find and look out over the forests and mountains one last time. Watch the sun set over the hills. I would then spend the night in the back country looking up at the sky, counting the stars and making wishes on as many shooting stars as possible. Fall asleep in the night air.

End day two.

I would next go out and find the one I love most and kiss them. No prompting, just kiss them. That way I could see the look on their face. I might do something more with them if permitting. <.< If only for the sake of lying next to them and watching them. Following that, I would go home and try on all of my cloths and look at myself in the mirror. I would then stripe down and give my body one last complete looking over. Having done that, I would (after redressing) head to the local zoo and spend the remainder of the day looking at how ridiculous most animals are. Seriously, elephants... who came up with that? Upon returning home I would take a final look at my family before going online and rereading as much of my favorite webcomics as I could. I'm not sure what the last thing I saw before closing my eyes and going to sleep would be... I might be tempted to stare at a photo of my family, or maybe pull my kitty into bed with me and nuzzle her until it all went black. I'm not sure. Aw, who am I kidding. I would want the last thing I saw to be a picture of Harrison Ford. :3 <3

[Boo]

Aw, who am I kidding. I would want the last thing I saw to be a picture of Harrison Ford. :3 <3

Brilliant.

[billtodamax]

Hmm... Quite an interesting proposal.

Well... take into consideration, mind you, that this is pure speculation, as I couldn't really know how I'd react to losing my sight.

I'd quickly compose a list of everything I wanted to see in the rest of my seeing time. Great monuments, great places, and some great people. Then I would go out and try to see every single one of them in the three days I have left to see. It's highly likely that I wouldn't be able to go to all of them, to see everything I wanted to, but I would try my hardest. I'm not a particularly artistic person, however being blind would make playing the piano hard. Not impossible, but hard. I'd like to think that I'd continue with it.

Wow... just writing this post has gotten me really emotional. It's pretty shocking actually, how sad I can get over the strictly theoretical.

[KuReshtin]

True, I probably wouldn't close the accounts, though I doubt if I'd go online much. I don't like doing things where aid is absolutely necessary.

You don't like the notion of being dependent on aids?

What about your current use of these forums.
You require the aid of a computer to be able to connect to the internet and interpret the signals.
You require the aid of a keyboard and a mouse to be able to enter your thoughts onto these forums.
You require the aid of a monitor to get a visual representation of the forums so that you can read and react to what others are saying.

Going blind would only require that you replace one of those aids (the monitor) with another aid (screen reader, audio descriptive software).
It's a change, yes, but not the debilitating change a lot of people here might think it is. It'll take some time to adjust to it, but that's what we do as humans. We find solutions. We adapt. We move on.

Also, to all who have posted that they'd blind themselves to keep some sort of control. Why?
If you know you're going to go blind, why not enjoy your sight to the last possible moment?
You know that you're going blind either way, ahy cause yourself the pain of blinding yourself?

What if, and I know this wasn't an option of the original scenario here, just hours before your 'deadline' you were contacted by your doctors, giving you the news that they found a way to cure this. What would you then think of having blinded yourself?

Doctor: "Good news. We found a way to counter your blindness. You're not going blind after all."
You: "But I already cut my eyes out."
Doctor: "Oh. Right... Well... Never mind then."

Yes, this hypothetical question involves a lot of emotions, where you need to think about something you'd never want to have to contemplate, but in my opinion, there are too many people here overreacting way too much and not thinking rationally.

Now, I'm sorry if I sound insensitive to those who think they'd not be able to handle going blind, but sight is, after all, just one of our many senses (between 15-20 of them).
Sure, the world is geared towards the sighted, but you won't be unable to function without your sense of vision.

You will find a solution. You will adapt. You will move on with your life.

[Reinboom]

I have spent some time to honestly think of this question. The result is a very stream of conscious post and I apologize for it.

That said, I believe the first thing I would do when presented with the issue is to think, to drift, to imagine what it would be like. To perceive what the eventuality would mean, would be to me.
First, my thoughts drift into a world where I realize I am in thought, my imagination is boundless. My inside vision is ever eternal, the world as I knew it with sight. I was gifted with acute photographic memory, and to this, I would swim in, trying to ever remember sight as it was. Out of this thought, I believe I would reach my first conclusion. I do not need sight, I have sight. I try not to judge people on appearance anymore. Only pose, prose, and practice. All of these I still have.

(broken memories in spoiler)
I would be lost in my own dream world trying to think of how I would react, and realize by the first day that I would be in my own dream world and this is my reaction. Everyone will be beautiful, I will see this. It's not as though sight hasn't already been stolen from me, after all. The first house I can remember living in is now nonexistent. Where it once stood is only an oddly shaped patch of grass that is slightly different from the older grass around it. My capability of seeing it is no longer there. Yet... I can see it. I can remember the black to white tiling in the kitchen, the heater as I stepped into the hard wood flooring in the living room. My mother's little knick-knacks on the walls, held in shapes of double squares. The small TV in the far northern eastern corner. The couch that my uncle sat upon as he laughed when I actually accepted his cigarette. My mother yelling at him. I can remember the room turning around, back into the kitchen. I can see the stairs to the left. Every step. I can count them. I can remember the bottle I found most of the way up. The one I opened and swallowed the contents of. I can remember my brothers room on the right, the one where I was playing with small toy cars with him in. Where I can see him blurring, and screaming at me, as I began to faint from the medicine in the bottle. I can remember the nurse. I can remember us moving, wanting to ride with my mommy. The odd little triangular shape in the top right corner over her eye from her motorcycle accident, her long brunette hair which draped to just below her shoulder. Her red shirt, matching the red truck I rode in her with. The first time I saw the second home. The long blue home. The stone walkway that led from it down through the yard, steps forming, and then crossing over into a cement patio. The basketball hoop where my siblings are playing "HORSE" at. How I'm too little to play with them. I can see the pile of sandpile nearby, with many of my toys. In the house, the tan floor. My parents room, where I can hear them commenting on how I looked like a little squirrel when I slept. The Kitchen and dining room where most of my extended family gathered. My cousins, before they became brash. I can remember the family room, with the various games, and toys, and fireplace in the far corner. The computer to the left of all of this, where my sister is sitting as she yells at me for accidentally saying a curse word when not knowing its meaning. The bathroom where my siblings snickered at me as I was trying to move watch myself move my ears in the mirror. Peggy's disbelief when I could. Getting my LEGOs stuck in play-doh. My first best friends at school, Braell, Stuart, Anthony, Debra... My 2nd grade teacher taking me aside astonished at my mathematics to discover my father's accidental teaching me of algebra. Me not knowing what that was. The short move to Kentucky. The small yellow house my parents wanted to buy, where the lady promised I could keep the small tabby kitten that the last owners left behind. Getting to pet the kitty for one last time, as my parents promised, before driving away from it forever. The months of living in a camping trailer with my parents. The house near my new hometown...
My brother's dragon tattoo along his left arm. His oddly short and stout form, and his black, usually shaven hair, and his ever changing eyes. Peggy's long brunette hair, her green eyes, her overly large grin. Jamie May's long flowing black hair, her giddy laugh... Faye... Jamie Marie... the graves of the twins... Darlene... Brenda... My parents as they are now. My grandparents.
Every card I have read. Every word in my silly book games...


I would try to remember my art classes, my programming classes, my friends from across the country. Those who I have caused heartbreak to, and those who I have been heartbroken by.
As I am now, my eyes only aiding me in my memory, me watching this screen, and being a good source to tear up with as memory overwhelms quickly beyond my ability to type the memories, I realize that what I would lose by losing my sight is less than what I am seeing.

I realize this. I wouldn't be afraid of losing my sight.

After this, after my memory and beyond this I would have something else to aim for.
I would try to mitigate it.
I would seek to keep myself alive, to know myself. To know how to cross the street. To hear danger.
I would try to learn how things felt and heard to match how things are seen now.
I would study my games by sound.
I would study my art by direction and measurement.

I would memorize how things occur, at what points form what colors, and know what I should see instead of what my eyes would no longer tell me to.

I would not bow down to realizing there are things left unread. I know how to use a scanner, and I know how to OCR text. I would just need to learn how to use a screen reader.

If there is something that I couldn't do before, I would learn how to program how.
At all costs, I would fight. I will always be able to see.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

I would force myself to invent a bionic eye.

Also, create a mind/machine interface so I could surf the internet with my brain.

[Lioness]

I would read. A lot.

I would look at family photos, to refresh the memories.

I would cuddle my kitty.

I would cuddle my boyfriend, and look at him lots.

I would tell him that he'd better learn to lead me really well, because I'm not stopping dancing.

I would read some more.

I'd dedicate a whole day to memorising all of the piano pieces I know (at least, I'd try). Just so I could play them afterwads. I suck at memorising.

I would cuddle my boyfriend even more (he's my comfort, always), and I'd probably keep doing so until my sight went.

[Shurz]

Kureshtin is right as usual :smallbiggrin:
If I were to become visually challenged life would be harder, but not impossible. Work tasks may change due to something that would better fit a visually challenged worker.
Some of my hobbies would be affected, since I love reading and current sci-fi and fantasy books would not be generally available in braille or audio books. Listening to music or certain tv-shows would not be affected much.
Bicycling could be done on an exercise bicycle instead. Most computer games
unfortunately would be history. Learning to play a musical instrument or continue to play a musical instrument would suffer a bit a first, but only until ones other senses had learned to compensate for the loss of one sense.

To clarify - this means that in the last three days I would make sure that all the things I rely on would be adapted to fit me being visually challenged - phone services, internet, disabled traveling, getting a cleaner to come around and help clean the house - since I can't see the dust. Once all these needs are taken care of, I would find out what possibilities exist to get someone to create audio tapes for books that are not available in braille.

A friend of mine has no thermal sense - i.e. can't feel hot or cold and has burned himself badly several times. He still loves cooking and is studying to become a chef.
My own sense problems are minor. I have no sense of smell and can barely taste food, unless if is dominant tastes like sweet, sour, bitter,etc. Without glasses I would not be able to see where I put my feet and can't recognize faces if they are further away than 6 inches.
That does cause some problems:
- I tend to excess in the use of spices in cooking and some people are somewhat sensitive.
- I can't tell if clothes smell or food has gone bad nor do I know if a girl wearing perfume smells great.
One simply adapts and works around the problem to the best of ones ability.

Comment removed due to request.

As for dealing with detriment - the Paralympics takes place every four years together with the Olympics. There are visually impaired runners that run with a guide. 'nuf said.

[Boo]

{Scrubbed}

:smallannoyed:

You didn't really answer the question and passively insulted several individuals. Please edit your post so it's at the very least less rude.

[SilverSheriff]

I would work out how I am going to fold my Monetary notes so they are identifiable by touch. I would say my goodbyes on every site on the Internet that I have enjoyed during my teen years. I'd spend a couple of hours in a strip-club. then I would call together all of my friends to see them one last time, I would tell my lady friend with self-esteem issues how gorgeous she is in my final hour and ask her to stay with me as I go blind.

EDIT: and if anyone asks me about my Dungeons and Dragons campaign I will say "I'M BLIND YOU ASS! YOU CAN WAIT A WEEK!"

EDIT 2: Forgot to mention Firefly marathon on the first day...:smallfurious:

[Purple Rose]

(broken memories in spoiler)
I would be lost in my own dream world trying to think of how I would react, and realize by the first day that I would be in my own dream world and this is my reaction. Everyone will be beautiful, I will see this. It's not as though sight hasn't already been stolen from me, after all. The first house I can remember living in is now nonexistent. Where it once stood is only an oddly shaped patch of grass that is slightly different from the older grass around it. My capability of seeing it is no longer there. Yet... I can see it. I can remember the black to white tiling in the kitchen, the heater as I stepped into the hard wood flooring in the living room. My mother's little knick-knacks on the walls, held in shapes of double squares. The small TV in the far northern eastern corner. The couch that my uncle sat upon as he laughed when I actually accepted his cigarette. My mother yelling at him. I can remember the room turning around, back into the kitchen. I can see the stairs to the left. Every step. I can count them. I can remember the bottle I found most of the way up. The one I opened and swallowed the contents of. I can remember my brothers room on the right, the one where I was playing with small toy cars with him in. Where I can see him blurring, and screaming at me, as I began to faint from the medicine in the bottle. I can remember the nurse. I can remember us moving, wanting to ride with my mommy. The odd little triangular shape in the top right corner over her eye from her motorcycle accident, her long brunette hair which draped to just below her shoulder. Her red shirt, matching the red truck I rode in her with. The first time I saw the second home. The long blue home. The stone walkway that led from it down through the yard, steps forming, and then crossing over into a cement patio. The basketball hoop where my siblings are playing "HORSE" at. How I'm too little to play with them. I can see the pile of sandpile nearby, with many of my toys. In the house, the tan floor. My parents room, where I can hear them commenting on how I looked like a little squirrel when I slept. The Kitchen and dining room where most of my extended family gathered. My cousins, before they became brash. I can remember the family room, with the various games, and toys, and fireplace in the far corner. The computer to the left of all of this, where my sister is sitting as she yells at me for accidentally saying a curse word when not knowing its meaning. The bathroom where my siblings snickered at me as I was trying to move watch myself move my ears in the mirror. Peggy's disbelief when I could. Getting my LEGOs stuck in play-doh. My first best friends at school, Braell, Stuart, Anthony, Debra... My 2nd grade teacher taking me aside astonished at my mathematics to discover my father's accidental teaching me of algebra. Me not knowing what that was. The short move to Kentucky. The small yellow house my parents wanted to buy, where the lady promised I could keep the small tabby kitten that the last owners left behind. Getting to pet the kitty for one last time, as my parents promised, before driving away from it forever. The months of living in a camping trailer with my parents. The house near my new hometown...
My brother's dragon tattoo along his left arm. His oddly short and stout form, and his black, usually shaven hair, and his ever changing eyes. Peggy's long brunette hair, her green eyes, her overly large grin. Jamie May's long flowing black hair, her giddy laugh... Faye... Jamie Marie... the graves of the twins... Darlene... Brenda... My parents as they are now. My grandparents.
Every card I have read. Every word in my silly book games...

Reading this made me immensely sad and stirred up emotions in me I had forgotten I could feel. And I can't even say I understood most of what you referred to. =/ Thank you for posting this.

[paddyfool]

I'm torn between two routes.

Route 1: "Do not go gently into that good night" (and yes, I know that's death, not blindness, but there's a lot to be said for not resigning yourself to your fate). No matter how certain I think I am about my going blind, there's always the possibility that I might be wrong. So I might do everything possible to try and stop it happening, partly so that later, I don't have regrets and doubts along the lines of "but what if I had tried X, Y and Z"? Also, it's always possible I may have been wrong about the inevitability of it.

Route 2: See as much of everything that I've been wanting to see that I can. Day 1 - get equipped for days 2 & 3, and see all family and friends within this country I can manage to. Days 2&3 - travel. Spending splurge on going to lots of places I've meant to visit for ages - Rome, Athens, St Petersburg, Nepal (re-visit, but hey), this time getting myself to the Everest base camp, Tokyo - and making sure I don't waste the time flying in between by spending much of that watching the best movies and documentaries I can lay my hands on on day 1 on the best portable viewing device I can afford.

[rezplz]

I'd go visit my girlfriend.

And just stare at her.

For 72 hours.

[rakkoon]

See family and friend. Stare at my children till they're burned in my retina.
Not sleep for three days.
Audio books exist so...I'd take lots of walk around the places I grew up, where I live.
Sunsets are a great idea

[Ikialev]

Die.
Because I don't really see myself blind.

[Telonius]

I would get a book deal as soon as possible, since then I will be the next Helen Keller. (I have a progressive hearing loss - about 30-40% in both ears right now).

[Eldritch Knight]

Going blind? I probably wouldn't do anything beyond trying to solve the problem, or making back up plans. Besides, it wouldn't be too much of a problem for me for three reasons:

1. It would not imped my intellect in anyway. I'd still be able to continue writing, I'd just need to use voice recognition software, or dictate to a family member.

2. There are quite a few people that I know would be readily available to help me navigate around, so there's no real need for a seeing eye dog.

3. My twin brother would readily donate one of his eyes to me, (Thus, swapping one of my blind eyes for one of his good ones.) so that if it was only eye-related, I'd at least be able to have partial vision. If it was brain related, well, that's a different issue.

[Supagoof]

Deal with getting aids for when I do finally go blind. Computers that speak the text on the screen etc.
Things similar to this.

If the blindness sets in when I fall asleep on the 3rd day, then I'd try to stay awake from day 1 as long as I can. Eventually I'd fall asleep, but then I'd have 2 more days after that where'd I stretch them as far as I could.

Assuming that the blindness sets in at a certain time, rather then by sleep cycle....

I'd buy books on disc - as many as I could, and sell many of my old written ones back to the store as they would buy.

Aside from Braille - I'd start learning some different languages.

I'd take the written stuff out of my Goofy collection, and sell it. The tactile items I would keep.

I'd buy t-shirts that say "My ears work fine you jerk!", "Move b****, get out da WAY!", "I can hit you with this stick, it's legal." and "Somebody picked this out for me today" to wear around.

I'd give my first car to my brother (I've owned for 16 years), because I'd know he'd take care of it and every once in awhile we could go cruising around in it.

I'd sell movies that I own that aren't great in dialogue, and keep ones that are fantastic - like Clerks.

And finally, I'd take my wife on a drive as far as we could go before the blindness set in, keeping quiet and absorbing all the sights. Then just before lights out, I'd pull over, and let her drive back, while we chat about all the things we saw along the way.

[Mattaeu]

D1:
6:30 AM: Wake up. Check local sunrise time. Cook some eggs sunny-side up. Shower.
7:00 AM: Dressed for cold, take Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince and a camp chair to my car. Drive West.
7:30 AM: Stop and setup facing East. Read through Chapter VI to the Prince's words about sunsets.
7:47 AM: Watch the sun come up over the mountains. (Local time)
8:00 AM: Drive North to my mother's. Go the speed limit.
8:45 AM: Arrive in L-town USA at home. Since my mother now works, spend time with my Ecuadorian grandparents learning the names and faces of my cousins and relatives with their photo albums.
12:00 PM: Help make lunches and clean my mother's house as best I can till 3:30.
3:30 PM: When mother returns, ask if we can set up a family card game or bowling night two days from now. Call my siblings and girlfriend to make sure they can come. Further ask girlfriend if we can get together tomorrow.
4:00 PM: Find a good performance back down in S-city USA for 9:00 PM and buy enough tickets for several friends. Call and tell them I got free tickets.
4:30 PM: Play a good video game with my older brother, Chubs McGee (from this forum). Ask if he can etch a B&W picture into a tin piece by two days from now.
6:00 PM: Drive back to the capital city and rock the Tucanos Brazilian Grill for dinner. Invite my Brazilian friends.
7:00 PM: Go for a tour of Temple Square. Watch one of their inspirational movies.
9:00 PM: Go to the performance, be it a play or rock concert. Crowd-surf regardless of which. ;)
11:00 PM: Get home, call my girl and check the time we'll each other see tomorrow.

D2:
7:30 AM: Wake up. Go for a 5 mi run through the city. Walk home backwards.
8:15 AM: Shower. Download free audiobook from city library, Dracula (my personal favorite).
9:00 AM: Drive to L-town 2 USA listening to the book.
10:30 AM: Arrive at my girl's house. Go to the craft store and buy paints and assorted wooden items. Paint a few of them together, use lots of colors. Have a smaller piece that I'll keep recording what we do and say during the day.
12:00 PM: Make lunches from scratch.
12:30 PM: Read from her favorite books until we decide to go to a movie.
12:45 PM: Decide to go see Movie Y.
1:00 PM: Convince her to see Movie Z.
3:00 PM: Go back to her house and play Carcassone with her family. Do not lose!
5:00 PM: Ask what she would do if I lost my sight the day after tomorrow and write it as a list. Discuss as a hypothetical. Update the list of things we did and said to include the conversation and gift it to her. Expound on my coming blindness.
5:30 PM: Whatever she would like to do until I need to head home.
10:30 PM: Head home to S-City USA.
12:00 AM: Get home, sleep.

D3:
8:00 AM: Wake up. Set up the learning calendar for all the blindness utilities on a talking calendar.
9:00 AM: Purchase the items I need for in-home mobility.
10:00 AM: Sell my car to my older sister. On the cheap.
11:00 AM: Shut my eyes and go through each object in my room to determine whether I will use it the following day in its correct function or whether I would keep it for sentimental reasons.
12:00 PM: Lunch out at the Braza Grill Express.
1:00 PM: Head home to L-town 1.
2:00 PM: Help my brother finish the tin etching of our family.
3:00 PM: Play the card games or bowling with my family and/or friends.
5:00 PM: Watch a movie we all enjoy.
7:00 PM: Let them know I'm going blind the following morning; spend the rest of my time at home.
9:00 PM: Check to make sure everything will work out for tomorrow on my talking calendar.
11:00 PM: Start writing about the past three days in detail.

D4:
5:30 AM: Finish writing and go to sleep.
1:30 PM: Live like I'm still in that dreaming sleep. After all, I won't have sight to convince me I'm awake.

I did have this question once: Do people who go blind still dream of things in sight, as though they can still see?

[ForzaFiori]

Hm... well, to begin with, I must say i'd be happier about going blind then deaf at least. My eyes are already degenerating anyway, up to about 20/200 already (almost legally blind already!)

I'd spend most of day one playing bass with my eyes closed, making my fingers memorize where all the strings are, where frets are, and exactly how it sounds in tune, since I won't be able to use my tuner. I'd tell my family, so that they don't think I'm crazy in 3 days. That night, I'd hit up a strip club (I just turned 18 and dang it, I'm gonna go to one before I lose my sight). Day 2 and 3 I'd hop in my Neon and take off. Visit friends and family. Go up to the best friend I've had a crush on for 4 years, and when she opens the door, tell her she's beautiful and kiss her. Then I'd let her know what's up so I don't get slapped too hard. :) When I run out of gas, call my mom to pick me up. Go home, make sure I'll be able to get around my room in the morning, take a last look at my pets and family, and go into my room. Then turn the music up loud, lay on my bed, and read until the lights go out. Then I'd probably break down as it really hits me.