Of Seeing the Light

It’s been a long time.

It’s been an interesting week.

I was blind. From Thursday to Sunday. I was completely without eyesight thanks to a 1cm scratch from a certain small furry friend of mine.

As you might imagine (but really, how could you? I know I couldn’t), this was a tremendously frustrating and rather frightening experience. To be unable to see, unable to interact with the world around me visually, to be completely dependent on the good graces of those around me, to feel as an alien in my own world. Thank God for close calls, modern medicine, air conditioning, and wives of incredible character. I can’t even begin to think of how life might have been if this injury were anything other than temporary…I don’t want to.

I can see now. Thank God. The scratch is almost completely healed and there should be no permanent damage to my vision. For the moment, only a slight feeling of irritation, fuzzy vision in my left eye, and regular eye drops remind me of what I just experienced. In the end, it was only three days. I have not had a life-altering change in perspective. A Saul of Tarsus experience. But I am grateful to have my sight returned and and for the support of my wonderful, hard-working wife.

I was blind but now I see.

I’ve been happily married for 9 months now. All is well. And now you’re up to date!

Of Inception

I saw Inception last night. It was an epic experience. While there is no such thing as a perfect movie (with all due respect to the Godfather), Inception came close to the mark for me. Fantastic script and brilliant execution by director Christopher Nolan and a well-balanced cast of actors.

The film has been criticised in certain circles for retreading ideas explored in various other films (The Matrix, Dreamscapes, Dark City, etc). I would respond to these criticisms by first reminding people that there is no such thing as an original idea (an appropriate debate considering the film’s title and subject matter) and I would go on to say that Inception packages the ideas explored in these films in a vastly superior way to previous efforts.

One concern that has been growing in my mind, however, is that with the ongoing visual evolution of the entertainment industry, particular in terms of movies and video games, is that eventually, regular exposure to the mediums may indeed cause people to begin questioning their realities, or perhaps losing faith in them. It’s a phenomenon we’ve already begun to see in its earliest stages, and I worry about its long-term potential on an already so impressionable humanity.

With (renewed) Hope,
Joseph