Inspiriational - Blind Turner

[jeff]

@sbwertz @mark james I thought of you when I saw this. How incredibly inspirational!

'This might freak you out: I don't want my eyesight back'

After turning blind, Christopher decided to follow the craft of woodturning.

www.bbc.com

 

[mark james]

I am amazed by stories like this. It helps to put perspective to the silly, inconsequential things I worry about.

So much of our day-to-day "concerns" pale with what others have overcome to find meaning, purpose and enjoyment in their lives; we just have to be willing to "see" what others are doing.

(This AM I mailed out 40 more prepped kits to the Portland Group - Oral Hull Foundation for the Visually Impaired. These were kits prepped by Scissortail Pens and Cwalker935). Thanks guys.

 

[Dalecamino]

These folks are indeed amazing.

 

[MPVic]

Thanks for sharing Jeff - we need reminders like this to thank God for all the blessings we take for granted.

 

[Sly Dog]

Well put, Mark. I liked his shirt: Feeling is Believing. Very cool.

 

[Lucky2]

I've been a follower of Chris's for years, he is a very good turner, even though he is blind. He has his videos on You-tube, and he is well known and respected by other turners.

Len

 

[Warren White]

Thank you so much for sharing this. It has a personal connection in my life.

What an inspiration!

 

[sbwertz]

He is a really nice guy. I was having problems trying to figure out how to teach one of my totally blind home-turners how to find the center on a spindle. So I emailed him and he told me how he does it...he uses a scratch awl instead of a pencil to scratch the diagonals using a standard center finder. He can then find the center by touch and use the awl to make a dimple that the spur or live center can find by touch.

 

[robutacion]

What a message this guy is giving to all of us...!

On the other hand, I find it a little strange when he says he doesn't want his vision back, I think this is the first time I ever heard such a statement from a blind person, I'm not sure if I understand it but I can assume that the loss of his vision has given him an increase and power to all his other senses and it may just be that he feels happier with that "exchange" and that I can accept.

There is a fact that we all have our own "disabilities" and parts of our body that don't work as it should, physical or mental issues can easily make us feel down and negative, nothing better than a good "reality check" to put us in the right place and consider how lucky we are.
The "looking around" expression is not always enough when we don't really have much to look at, nevertheless, looking further and passing those barriers we can see examples that we all can learn from and become better persons, a little effort can go a long way...!

Cheers
George