Describe Your Friends Face

Through her experience of being both deaf and blind, Helen Keller reveals many insights. In part of her article, “Three Days to See,” she explains the importance of really seeing the people in our lives.
One thing I really appreciate about her article is that Helen says that the first thing she would do if she were given 3 days to see is visit her teacher and friend Ann Sullivan Macy. Because Keller’s words are so eloquent I would like to post them exactly as she wrote them…

“On the first day, I should want to see the people whose kindness and gentleness and companionship have made my life worth living. First I should like to gaze long upon the face of my dear teacher, Mrs. Ann Sullivan Macy, who came to me when I was a child and opened the outer world to me. I should want not merely to see the outline of her face, so that I could cherish it in my memory, but to study that face and find in it the living evidence of the sympathetic tenderness and patience with which she accomplished the difficult task of my education. I should like to see in her eyes that strength of character which has enabled her to stand firm in the face of difficulties, and that compassion for all humanity which she has revealed to me so often.”

Wow. Can you really see all that in someone’s face? Can you see sympathetic tenderness, patience, character, and compassion as she describes? I think that if we took the time to and tried, we could see a lot more in the faces of those around us. We could understand others better too, if we realized that the face does tell more than we tend to see.
So, to see how good we are at using our eyes to see, try to describe the faces of five good friends. Or here’s another exercise for your eyes, what are the colors of each of your five good friend’s eyes? These are a few questions that Keller poses in her article. I think that both are difficult to do. It seems that we think we know people so well, but I think we take for granted that we can see them all the time.
Maybe it’s not about taking time to see, but seeing more whenever we see our friends and family. So try it, try and see more next time you are with someone who is close to you. Remember what it is that makes their face special, note the color of their eyes, and be grateful that you can see these delicate details that make life so joyful and sweet.