About 2 weeks ago I had a very interesting guest lecturer that flew in all the way from Germany to give us a lecture. Dr Andreas is a renowned social entrepreneur in the market. His innovation of his social enterprise cum museum- Dialogue in the Dark is probably one of the most creative ideas to raise awareness and at the same time, providing jobs for the visually impaired.
What is the idea?
Imagine going into a museum. There are different rooms, all having different settings. For exanple, one room is a setting of a rainforest, you can hear the waterfall, you can smell the flowers, you can even feel the leaves and the bushes, you can taste the fruits. But the catch is this, everything is pitch black. Completely dark. You can hear, smell, taste, and even touch but the whole exhibition is in the dark. You are being led by a guide throughout the whole hour of exhibition. At the end of it, when you walk out of the darkness and into the light, you realise the guide who led you throughout the whole process is actually a blind person.
Wow. People always have a stereotype that the blind are handicapped in our society. However, in the dark, we are the handicapped ones and they are the leaders. They maneuver best in darkness, they are in their element. How creative is that? Not only did it provided 6,000 jobs for the blind community. It also teaches people like us that being blind doesn't mean you are incapable. In fact you can even SEE life from a different point of view.
I learnt someting very imprtant today. You may be visually-abled, but have no vision. Are you just dragging your feet to school, work, home, and just living a routine lifestyle with no sense of achievement? Then you stop what you are doing and reflect on this. Are you happy with your life? What is it that you wanted to do but did not? Can you still do it? Why not?
I started thinking about it myself too. I don't want to look back at my life 10-20 years down the road, and regret not living my life to it's fullest. Not accomplishing what I set out to do. Not running with vision and purpose.
See people, you may have your sight, but running life without a vision, is like running a marathon without a direction. You can still run! Full speed! In record-breaking time! BUT, wait a minute, you're way off track! Eventually you realise you are further away from the finish line then you had started. Don't live this life without a vision, a dream, and a purpose. Life would be meaningless.
Start dreaming again. Start believing. Star visualizing. If you can see it, you can have it.
I love this quote:
"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."
-Helen Keller
(American Author, Political Activist, Lecturer. Born deaf and blind)
2 Corinthians 4:18, 5:7 (NKJV)
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
About 2 weeks ago I had a very interesting guest lecturer that flew in all the way from Germany to give us a lecture. Dr Andreas is a renowned social entrepreneur in the market. His innovation of his social enterprise cum museum- Dialogue in the Dark is probably one of the most creative ideas to raise awareness and at the same time, providing jobs for the visually impaired.
