In order to guide me better, Jean had invented a code. The pressure of his hand on my right shoulder meant: “Slope on the right. Shift the weight of your body to the left,” and vice versa. Pressure in the middle of my back said: “No danger in a straight line in front of you. We can walk faster.” Pressure on my back but on the left side was a warning: “Slow up! Right turn ahead.” And when the weight of his hand became heavier, it was because the turn ahead was a hairpin bend…
Jean and I ran into a hard fact — the fact that limits do not exist. If there are any, they are never the ones they taught us. People around us seemed satisfied when they said that a lame man walks with a limp, that a blind man does not see, that a child is not old enough to understand, that life ends with death. For the two of us, in our summer of green fields, twilight and dawn continually revolving, none of these statements stood its ground. We had friendship on our side. We had ignorance and bliss, and we looked at everything through these channels. They taught us all we knew. The blind man himself saw, and the sighted one close behind him knew it. Life was good, very good.
~ Jacques Lusseyran, And There Was Light: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Blind Hero of the French Resistance in World War II
Notes:
- Photo: What you see is what you get by Dragan Todorović (Belgrade, Serbia)
- Related Posts: Jacques Lusseyran, And There Was Light
Live & Learn 
“If there are any, they are never the ones they taught us.”
True, very true.
“We had friendship on our side. We had ignorance and bliss and we looked at everything through these channels.”
wow…
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Yes, incredible passage. So moved by his words.
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“We had ignorance and bliss” – how warm and loving and poignant are his words…
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He’s incredible. He is Light. Full stop.
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“People around us seemed satisfied…” That brought me up short. So easy to accept a situation at face value.. I can’t do this because of ‘X’ or this will never work because of ‘y’. And yet…. Beautiful passage, pal….
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Yes. Yes. Yes. It is beautiful Lori.
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one of my favorites, ever.
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A great attitude makes a huge difference – love this! ❤
Diana xo
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Sure does. Makes me wonder if I were in his shoes….
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“And we looked at everything through these channels.” We each have a choice which channel we are tuning into to. It is a beautiful reminder to choose differently. 🙏🏻
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That’s it…it’s our choice.
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