Calla - Humans of NY Post

 The story from Humans of New York I chose to read, was about a man named Kasson. He was a young man who had a rough day one day at work, then proceeded to break up with her girlfriend that night. He was drunk walking to get home by train and was also wearing a bunch of new "flashy" clothes he had just bought and had no cell phone with him. He goes onto the train with suspicions and sees a man come into the train car. He then doesn't remember anything but waking up handcuffed to a hospital bed and can no longer see. The doctors attempted to save his vision, but his optic nerve was severed and it could not be restored. Now fully blind he has to adapt to his new life, now being fully blind. He struggled with this feeling weak and emasculated, he had to rely on others like his mother to help him. He would get angry and yell, which led his mother to sternly warn him that if he continues down this path no one will care to help him.

    He then moves on to meet Benji, who he may not be able to see but he loved the sound of her voice. She was a nursing student and would text, call and eventually hang out with Kasson. They began to date and Kasson seemed very happy to have met her. There was an instance where Benji was coming to a cookout to meet his family, and Kasson wanted to keep up and party as he used to. This resulted in him getting too drunk and agitated with Benji. Feeling insecure that she would one day find a doctor and leave him. He expresses his fear of Benji loving him as a person, and not as a man. He wanted to be that masculine boyfriend figure for her and was afraid his blindness would prevent him from doing so. 

    Moving forward from that, he states that he had died in a sense that day. And now he lives a new life that he has to get used to over time. While he wishes he could throw away his cane and shades and just "walk straight" as he said, he has to adapt and come to terms with his new situation. It seems he and Benji are still together and happy, and he now uses faith to motivate him to keep going. I really enjoyed reading this piece because I have two blind cousins, one blind from birth and one who lost his vision over time. While it is a different scenario, losing your vision is extremely challenging and involves a lot of changes to accommodate that loss. But it was heartwarming to see him come to the realization that it's just a matter of changing your mindset and that there are ways to still live a happy life without vision.